ABSTRACT

Hong Kong Med J 2012;18:253–5 | Number 3, June 2012
CASE REPORT
Primary spinal cord desmoplastic astrocytoma in an adolescent: a rare tumour at rare site and rare age
Darshana D Rasalkar, Bhawan K Paunipagar, Alex Ng
Department of Imaging and Interventional Radiology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, Hong Kong
 
 
We report a case of a non-infantile primary intramedullary spinal cord desmoplastic astrocytoma in an 18-year-old girl who presented with spastic paraparesis. The patient had been unable to run for 1 year. Magnetic resonance imaging of her spine showed an intramedullary solid and cystic heterogeneously enhancing lesion located at T7-T8 level. Partial excision was performed. Histology revealed a desmoplastic astrocytoma. To the best of our knowledge, there is no report on primary desmoplastic astrocytoma of the spinal cord in literature. Nor has such a symptomatic tumour manifesting at the age of 18 years been documented.
 
Key words: Adolescent; Astrocytoma; Spinal cord
 
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