Neoplasms Spinal Cord eMedicine Emergency

Description: Article by Huff 2007
Contents - Introduction; Clinical; Differentials; Workup; Treatment; Medication; Follow-up; Miscellaneous; Multimedia; References
Synonyms and related keywords: neoplastic disease, spinal cord compression, primary spinal cord tumors, metastatic lesions, spinal cord dysfunction, spinal cord metastasis, epidural spinal cord compression, partial cord compression, Brown-Séquard syndrome, hemangiomas, scoliosis, torticollis, vertebral metastasis, leptomeningeal metastasis, spinal cord neoplasm
Neoplastic disease that involves the spine with spinal cord compression is an emergency and may be devastating if it goes unrecognized. Primary spinal cord tumors arise from the different elements of the CNS, including neurons, supporting glial cells, and meninges. Anatomically, neoplasms of the spinal cord may be classified according to the compartment of origin, either intramedullary (inside the cord) or extramedullary (outside the cord). Additionally, cancers that metastasize to the vertebrae or surrounding tissues may cause spinal cord compression. Although metastatic lesions are not primary neoplasms arising from neural elements of the spinal cord, they are featured in this discussion because metastases cause 85% of the cases of neoplastic spinal cord compression, and the clinical presentation tends to be indistinguishable from that of primary cancers of the spinal cord.