Korean J Spine.  2013 Sep;10(3):177-180. 10.14245/kjs.2013.10.3.177.

Extra and Intramedullary Anaplastic Ependymoma in Thoracic Spinal Cord

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Neurosurgery, Yeungnam University, College of Medicine, Daegu, Korea. sw902@ynu.ac.kr
  • 2Department of Pathology, Yeungnam University, College of Medicine, Daegu, Korea.

Abstract

Spinal ependymoma occupies 40-60% of primary spinal cord tumors and has a feature of intramedullary tumor. The tumor most commonly arises from the central canal of the spinal cord, the conus medullaris or the filum terminale and its pathological features are usually benign. Unlike above characteristics, intra and extramedullary ependymomas are reported very rarely and have wide variety of histological features. We present a rare case of spinal anaplastic ependymoma with an accompanied exophytic lesions extramedullary as well. The tumor was poorly delineated between a spinal cord and the extramedullary components in operative view. After we had confirmed the frozen biopsy as anaplastic ependymoma, the remnant mass embedded in the spinal cord was remained because of its unclear resection margin and the risk of neurological deterioration. She underwent radiotherapy with 50.4 Gy, and there were newly developed mass lesions at the lumbosacral region on the MRI, 14 months postoperatively.

Keyword

Ependymoma; Exophytic; Intradural extramedullary

MeSH Terms

Biopsy
Cauda Equina
Conus Snail
Ependymoma*
Lumbosacral Region
Spinal Cord Neoplasms
Spinal Cord*
Full Text Links
  • KJS
Actions
Cited
CITED
export Copy
Close
Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
Similar articles
Copyright © 2024 by Korean Association of Medical Journal Editors. All rights reserved.     E-mail: koreamed@kamje.or.kr