ABSTRACT
Atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumor (AT/RT) of spine usually reported to develop in the brain, while it rarely manifest in the spine. It consists of rhabdoid cells and is highly malignant. AT/RT appears at various sites throughout the body, such as in the central nervous system, liver, kidneys, abdomen, and soft tissues. Among them, spinal AT/RT is rare, and AT/RT of lumbar spine is extremely rare; only a few cases have been reported. We present the case of an AT/RT of lumbar spine in a 16-month-old boy.
ABSTRACT
Idiopathic hypertrophic pachymeningitis (IHP) is a rare, chronic nonspecific and granulomatous inflammatory disorder of the dura with unknown etiology. The diagnosis can be established by open biopsy and exclusion of all other specific granulomatous and infectious diseases. We report a typical case of spinal IHP occurring in a long segment of cervical and thoracic dura from C6 to T8. The patient was 56-yr-old female, who had been suffered from pain on her upper back and both arms for 3 months and recent onset motor weakness of both legs. During the 9 months of follow-up period, she experienced the improvement of her neurologic symptoms with combined therapy of partial excision and corticosteroid medication. Since early surgical intervention and subsequent pulse ste-roid therapy are mandatory for this disease to avoid irreversible damage of nervous system, the identification of this unique disease entity is essential on frozen diagnosis. A few cases have been reported in Korean literature.