Journal de la colonne vertébrale

Primary Spinal Epidural Rhabdomyosarcoma of the Upper Thoracic Spine

Abstract

Bouali Sofiene, Bouhoula Asma, Boubaker Adenane, Maatar Nidhal, Ben Said Kallel Jalel, Aouij Lassaad and Jemel Hafedh

Introduction: Rhabdomyosarcoma is a highly aggressive and rapidly growing sarcoma with skeletal origin that occasionally appears in the spinal epidural space.

Method: We report a 20-year-old girl who presented with back pain, progressive paraparesis, and urinary retention. She had muscular weakness in her lower extremities and absent deep tendon reflex. An epidural dumbbell-shape mass at T3-T4 level was observed on MRI. The patient underwent T3-T5 hemilaminectomy.

Result: Histopathological examination Immunohistochemical staining confirmed the diagnosis of alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma. She received radiotherapy and chemotherapy. The patient died 3 months after.

Conclusion: Primary spinal epidural RMS is an extremely rare and very aggressive tumor. The treatment should focus on extensive resection with intensive combination of radiotherapy and chemotherapy.