ABSTRACT
Rheumatoid pannus involvement of the cervical spine like the atlanto-axial instability is common, but rheumatoid pannus involvement of the thoracolumbar spine is very rare. A 70-year-old woman with a 20-year medication history of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) came to a hospital because of paraparesis without trauma. Radiologic examination showed that the mass in the posterior aspect of the spinal canal of T12 to L2 was compressing the spinal cord. She underwent mass removal and posterior decompression. Histologic findings revealed lymphocytes with chronic inflammation which was seen in histologic findings of RA. Therefore, we supposed that the mass was a rheumatoid pannus and that it had caused paraparesis. We report a good result of paraparesis caused by thoracolumbar epidural pannus by RA in a patient who was treated with pannus removal and posterior decompression.