Cavernous hemangioma of the thoracic spinal cord.
A 25-year-old woman presented with a four-year history of progressive right-lower-extremity weakness and atrophy and a left hemisensory deficit was found. Metrizamide-enhanced spinal CT scan showed an intramedullary lesion at the level of T1-T2; this had expanded the cord in fusiform fashion but showed no evidence of a cystic component. Surgical resection was performed and the pathological diagnosis was cavernous hemangioma. Two and one-half years later, her left hemisensory deficit was worsening and a spinal MRI showed high signal intensity mass in the region of the previous surgery consistent with chronic hematoma which was re-evacuated with some improvement in the patient's neurological condition.
Wang
A M
AM
Department of Radiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston.
Morris
J H
JH
Fischer
E G
EG
Peterson
R
R
Lin
J C
JC
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006392:Hemangioma, Cavernous / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009192:Myelography; D013120:Spinal Cord Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed