Non-Hodgkin lymphomas presenting with spinal epidural involvement

• Published in: Acta oncologica Vol. 28; no. 4; p. 485
• Main Authors: Di Marco, A, Campostrini, F, Garusi, G F
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 1989
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Combined Modality Therapy; Epidural Space; Female; Humans; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin - therapy; Male; Middle Aged; Neoplasm Staging; Prognosis; Spinal Cord Neoplasms - therapy
• DOI: 10.3109/02841868909092255
• ISSN: 0284-186X

Spinal cord compression was the presenting symptom in 9 out of 299 previously undiagnosed non-Hodgkin lymphomas observed between 1972 and 1987. All patients had unfavourable histologic diagnosis and 4 had stage I E, 2 stage II E and 2 were staged as IV; one patient did not undergo a staging procedure. All patients were treated with surgery and radiotherapy, whereas chemotherapy was employed in 3 cases only. Only 2 patients are still alive and disease-free after 3 and 8 years respectively; the remaining 7 died with progression of disease, even if in 2 cases a complete clinical remission was obtained. The recent literature has been reviewed. Non-Hodgkin lymphoma with spinal epidural presentation is usually an aggressive disease. An intensive treatment combining surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy is finally suggested to achieve better local and long-term results. Surgery can as a rule be limited to laminectomy plus biopsy.