Author(s)

Foot-Juh Lian², Wen-Chiuan Tsai¹, Cheng-Ta Hsieh²

¹Department of Pathology, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taiwan, China.
²Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, Cathay General Hospital, Taiwan, China.

Peripheral T-cell lymphoma is a rather uncommon non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma with the initial manifestation of spinal cord compression. Herein, we reported a 74-year-old woman with sustained neck pain radiating into the right shoulder and arm and weakness of the right upper extremity. A mass that had invaded the C5 and C6 vertebral bodies, causing a kyphotic curvature and compressing the spinal cord, was discovered with magnetic resonance imaging. The patient then underwent anterior corpectomy at C5 and C6, and reconstruction with a titanic rod and bone cement. The pathology confirmed a diagnosis of peripheral T-cell lymphoma after serial H & E and immunohistochemical staining. She recovered well from her profound neurological deficit. Both chemotherapy and radiotherapy were used postoperatively. Surgical intervention is indicated in these cases to decompress the cord, remove the majority of the tumor mass, stabilize the spine and obtain tissue for pathological diagnosis.

Spinal Cord Compression; Vertebral Neoplasm; Cervical Spine; Peripheral T-Cell Lymphoma

F. Lian, W. Tsai and C. Hsieh, "Peripheral T-Cell Lymphoma of Cervical Spine," Surgical Science, Vol. 3 No. 2, 2012, pp. 96-99. doi: 10.4236/ss.2012.32019.