Lumbosacral Plexopathy Caused by Presacral Recurrence of Colon Cancer Mimicking Degenerative Spinal Disease: A Case Report

ABSTRACT

Radiculopathy triggered by degenerative spinal disease is the most common cause of spinal surgery, and the number of affected elderly patients is increasing. Radiating pain that is extraspinal in origin may distract from the surgical decision on how to treat a neurological presentation in the lower extremities. A 54-year-old man with sciatica visited our outpatient clinic. He had undergone laminectomy and discectomy to treat spinal stenosis at another hospital, but his pain remained. Finally, he was diagnosed with a plexopathy caused by late recurrence of colorectal cancer, which compressed the lumbar plexus in the presacral area. This case report illustrates the potential for misdiagnosis of extraspinal plexopathy and the value of obtaining an accurate history. Although the symptoms are similar, spinal surgeons should consider both spinal and extraspinal origins of sciatica.