Intramedullary spinal cord metastasis from renal cell carcinoma mimicking intramedullary hemangioblastoma

Abstract

A rare case of intramedullary spinal cord metastasis from renal cell carcinoma mimicking intramedullary hemangioblastoma was described. A 57-year-old man had a nephrectomy for renal cell carcinoma in the left kidney 5 years ago, and no recurrence or metastasis was found in computed tomography and bone scintigraphy. Later, the patient was presented as having bilateral shoulder pain and severe palsy of bilateral upper and lower extremities, and a solitary tumor in the intramedullary spinal cord was found at the C4 level. Excision of the tumor was performed and the intraoperative pathological diagnosis suspected the tumor to be hemangioblastoma. However, a final pathological examination revealed characteristics consistent with metastasis of renal cell carcinoma. Although the patient’s neurological condition and neuralgia initially slightly deteriorated postoperatively, they then gradually improved. Twenty-two months after the operation, a follow-up magnetic resonance imaging showed no recurrence of intramedullary spinal cord tumor, and there were no other metastases found in other organs.