title: Case of the month: April 1998--30 year old male with perineal numbness.
abstract: A 30-year-old male presented with a 2 year progressive course of bowel and bladder dysfunction, mild leg weakness and sensory abnormalities in sacral dermatomes. MRI showed an intra-axial conus medullaris lesion which was excised and identified as a ganglioglioma. The case presents the typical clinical course and histopathology of this unusual lesion which carries a favorable prognosis after gross total removal. Preoperative neurological function in such patients is highly predictive of post-operative outcome.
authors.affiliation: University of Western Ontario, London, Canada.
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: S P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Lownie
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Duggal
authors.forename: R R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Hammond
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D018303:Ganglioglioma / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010502:Perineum; D012678:Sensation Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D013120:Spinal Cord Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery