Author(s)

Pierpaolo Lunardi, Rodolfo Corinaldesi, Tommaso Lunardi, Roberto Floris

University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy.
University of Rome Tor Vergata, Roma, Italy.

It is extremely rare for cancer to present as an intramedullary spinal cord metastasis. The authors report on a case of a 74-year-old woman presenting with progressive tetraparesis to metastatic colon adenocarcinoma in the spinal cord. A review of the literature reveals that intramedullary localization is associated with a very short life expectancy, with a median survival of 3-4 months from the time of the diagnosis; nevertheless microsurgical removal of tumor can improve quality of life.

Spinal Cord Metastasis

P. Lunardi, R. Corinaldesi, T. Lunardi and R. Floris, "Solitary Intramedullary Spinal Cord Metastasis from Colon Carcinoma: A Case Report and Literature Review," Open Journal of Modern Neurosurgery, Vol. 4 No. 1, 2014, pp. 47-51. doi: 10.4236/ojmn.2014.41011.