title: Extramedullary hematopoietic tumor mimicking a thoracic nerve root schwannoma.
abstract: Extramedullary hematopoiesis secondary to chronic anemia is well reported throughout the literature. A rare presentation of this condition is in the central nervous tissue reported most frequently as an epidural mass causing spinal cord compression. The authors report the case of a 51-year-old man with beta-thalassemia and chronic anemia who was found to have a 4-cm paravertebral mass suggestive of a schwannoma. The patient underwent transthoracic resection of the mass. Histological examination confirmed an extramedullary hematopoietic tumor. In this article the authors propose a method to distinguish extramedullary hematopoietic tumors from schwannomas. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first reported case in the neurosurgical literature of this phenomenon.
authors.affiliation: Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, DC, USA.
authors.forename: Eric K
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Oermann
authors.forename: Nicholas D
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Coppa
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Margolis
authors.forename: Faheem A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Sandhu
mesh_terms: D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006411:Hematopoiesis, Extramedullary; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009442:Neurilemmoma / Q000473:pathology; D013117:Spinal Cord Compression / Q000209:etiology; D013120:Spinal Cord Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D013126:Spinal Nerve Roots / Q000473:pathology*