Cervical intramedullary spinal cord metastasis from esophageal adenocarcinoma: a case report

Abstract

BackgroundIntramedullary spinal cord metastasis (ISCM) is a rare pathologic entity. To the best of our knowledge, this is the second case of ISCM due to esophageal adenocarcinoma reported in the literature.Case descriptionWe report a 63-year-old man with a history of surgical removal of an esophageal adenocarcinoma who presented with the Brown–Sequard syndrome. Pan-spinal MRI showed intramedullary cervical lesions with intense homogeneous enhancement on gadolinium injection at C3 level. There were other sites of spinal metastases and one in the brain. We proceeded with the surgical removal of the lumbar metastatic lesion. The patient died 10 days later from respiratory failure.ConclusionISCM from esophageal adenocarcinoma appeared as homogeneous high intensity of the intramedullary lesion in T1 gadolinium. Their prognosis is very poor.