BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE In patients with intramedullary spinal cord metastases, the impact of MR imaging and clinical characteristics on survival has not been elucidated. Our aim was to identify MR imaging and clinical features with prognostic value among patients with intramedullary spinal cord metastases from a large retrospective series. MATERIALS AND METHODS The relevant MR imaging examina...

Neurocysticercosis is the most common central nervous system (CNS) parasitic disease worldwide, but spinal cysticercal infection is relatively rare, especially in the United States. Because of increased immigration to the United States from endemic areas, the incidence of neurocysticercosis has risen, especially in California, Texas, Arizona, and other southwestern states, but not in Wisconsin....

OBJECTIVE Meningeal melanocytomas are low-grade primary melanocytic tumors with benign histological features and a favorable clinical prognosis. Transition from meningeal melanocytoma to primary melanoma of the central nervous system is exceptionally rare, with only 5 cases having been previously reported. Here, we discuss a case of malignant transformation of an intramedullary melanocytoma to ...

OBJECTIVE AND IMPORTANCE We report a rare case of the tanycytic variant of intramedullary ependymoma. Tanycytes are the common progenitor cells of both ependymal cells and astrocytes. These particular elongate unipolar and bipolar ependymal cells extend from the ventricular lumen to the surface of the nervous system. It is extremely important, in terms of both management and prognosis, to disti...

Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is considered to be a rarer autoimmune disease than multiple sclerosis. It is very difficult to make a diagnosis of MNO for doctors who are not familiar with its clinical features and diagnostic criteria. We report a case of a young female patient who had been suffering motor weakness and radiating pain in both upper extremities. Cervical MRI showed tumorous lesion in...

To report a case of spinal intramedullary cysticercosis in thoracic spine. A 47-year old man living in Korea referred to our hospital with both feet tingling sensation for about a year. Laboratory evaluations, including serologic tests were not helpful. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed a 1.7 cm intramedullary mass at T10-11 level, which believed to be a tumor instead, rather than a cysticerc...

RATIONALE Primary spinal primitive neuroectodermal tumors (PNETs) are highly malignant tumors, which are extremely rare entities and primary intramedullary PNETs are extremely rare. Till now, only 24 cases of primary intramedullary PNET have been reported. PATIENT CONCERNS A 26-year-old male presented with progressive low back and lower limb pain for 1 month. DIAGNOSES Based on MRI and hist...

A 54-year-old man presented with a very rare case of radiation-induced intramedullary spinal cord anaplastic astrocytoma, which developed 37 years after radiotherapy for testicular seminoma. The patient presented with weakness and numbness of the left lower extremity that had gradually aggravated for 3 months. Magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated an intramedullary mass lesion with syringomye...

Pediatric intramedullary schwannoma without neurofibromatosis is extremely rare with only five cases reported so far. We present this rare finding in an 10-year-old boy who presented with a sudden onset of weakness in the lower limbs. An intraoperative diagnosis of schwannoma enabled us to carry out a total excision of the tumor, which resulted in near complete recovery at 10 months follow-up. ...