NYMC Faculty Publications

DOI

10.1159/000477845

Journal Title

Case Reports in Oncology

First Page

596

Last Page

604

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-1-2017

Department

Neurosurgery

Abstract

Sinonasal undifferentiated carcinoma (SNUC) is a rare malignancy of the upper airways and anterior skull base that carries a poor prognosis. The tumor is known to be invasive into the surrounding structures of the skull base and brain. To date, there is only one existing case report documenting drop metastasis to the intradural extramedullary spinal cord. To the best of our knowledge, we present the second case of metastatic SNUC to the spine. This report describes a 59-year-old male with a history of head and neck SNUC who presented with thoracic back pain and bilateral lower extremity paresis. Neuroimaging demonstrated an extradural thoracic mass with severe spinal cord compression. The patient underwent thoracic laminectomy and fusion for decompression of the spinal cord and internal stabilization. The pathology returned as SNUC. The patient was subsequently lost to follow-up from our institution. Metastatic SNUC is rare. We discuss the relevant clinical imaging and review the literature. Such a malignancy portends a very poor prognosis.

Publisher's Statement

Originally published in Case Reports in Oncology 2017;10:596–604. The original material can be found here.

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