[Intramedullary spinal cord metastasis: two case reports and literature review]

Intramedullary spinal cord metastasis was thought to be rare, but the advent of MR imaging and treatment for malignancy have revealed that it is more frequent than we previously thought. We report two cases of intramedullary spinal cord metastasis from lung and rectal colon carcinoma. Their symptoms were aggravated rapidly. We performed surgical treatment in both cases; one was grosstotal and the other was subtotal resection. After the operation, symptoms improved mildly in one patient and worsened in the other patient. Both died 3 months after surgery, because of respiratory disturbance due to brain stem compression and lung metastasis. In conclusion, MRI is highly useful for making a diagnosis of intramedullary spinal metastatic tumors. However, it is still difficult to treat such a patient by surgery alone. Further postoperative adjuvant therapy will be necessary to improve the prognosis of such patients.