Turkish Neurosurgery
2014 , Vol 24 , Num 2
Intramedullary Spinal Cord Metastasis of Renal Cell Carcinoma 6 Years Following the Nephrectomy
Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medicine Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Department of Neurosurgery, Beijing, China
DOI :
10.5137/1019-5149.JTN.7805-13.0
Intramedullary spinal cord metastasis is an uncommon manifestation of systemic tumor. We present a case of metastatic mass inside the
thoracic spinal cord 6 years after nephrectomy because of renal cell carcinoma. The parenchymal lesion was resected totally and the histologic
examination confirmed it as renal cell carcinoma metastasis. The patient’s neurological function improved apparently until the intramedullary
spinal cord metastasis recurred in situ later. The case shows that renal cell carcinoma has the possibility of metastasis into spinal cord even
several years after nephrectomy. Any symptom of neurological deficit should alert to a possible intramedullary spinal cord metastasis.
Keywords :
Renal cell carcinoma, Spinal cord, Neoplasm metastasis