[Spinal cord metastasis: an uncommon location. Experience in 2 cases]

Spinal cord metastases are an uncommon secondary location of a malignant neoplasm. They are rarely diagnosed during life and when that is the case, it is in the clinical setting of a disseminated cancer and very seldom as the first clinical manifestation. We report two patients, with no previous disease, who developed a progressive myelopathy. An intramedullary spinal cord tumor was diagnosed, based on the clinical picture and imaging studies. They were operated and biopsies showed spinal cord metastases whose primary tumor was a lung neoplasm. We discuss the clinical features in these patients, the diagnosis of progressive myelopathy in cancer patients, treatment and prognosis of this unusual secondary cancer location.