Ganeshwaran Shivapathasundram, Vanessa Sammons, Renata Bazina


May 2015, Volume 25, Issue 1, pp 33 - 37 Case Report Read Full Article 10.1007/s00586-015-4043-6

First Online: 27 May 2015

We report the case of a 44-year-old man who was found to have metastatic thymoma to his lumbar spine presenting as a spontaneous epidural haematoma. The man presented with back pain and cauda equina like symptoms in the absence of trauma, antiplatelet or anticoagulant agents. Following a laminectomy and excision of the epidural collection he made a full neurological recovery. Histopathology of the haematoma demonstrated metastatic thymoma. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first such case of metastatic thymoma to the lumbar spine presenting as a spontaneous epidural collection. We believe, in all patients with spontaneous spinal epidural haematoma and a background of malignancy, histopathological analysis should be sought.


Read Full Article