title: Widespread vertebral and epidural venous plexus metastasis of prostatic carcinoma presenting wedge-shaped radial lesions in the spinal cord.
abstract: The present case is the first autopsy case of prostatic carcinoma presenting widespread spinal epidural venous plexus tumor cell emboli with wedge-shaped spinal cord lesions. There has been no previous report of prostatic carcinoma showing tumor cell emboli in the spinal and cranial base epidural venous plexus, in spite of the fact that the incidence of vertebral metastasis in prostatic carcinoma is high, and that presence of continuity from pelvic organs to venous plexus around vertebrae, up to foramen magnum, has been reported. The present case shows that the possibility of spinal cord injury, not by direct compression, but by venous circulatory disturbance as a result of tumor cell emboli to veins, should be taken into consideration on medical treatment of prostatic carcinoma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropathology, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute for Neuroscience, Fuchu, Tokyo, Japan. k123ysm@tmin.ac.jp
authors.forename: Kiyomitsu
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Oyanagi
authors.forename: Kentaro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ogata
authors.forename: Shigeki
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Takeda
authors.forename: Yo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Horikawa
authors.forename: Emiko
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kawakami
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Morita
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000556:secondary*; D015174:Epidural Neoplasms / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000556:secondary*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009360:Neoplastic Cells, Circulating / Q000473:pathology*; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000098:blood supply / Q000473:pathology; D013131:Spine / Q000473:pathology