Spinal epidural metastasis of cerebral oligodendroglioma

A 50-year-old male patient with right frontal oligodendroglioma underwent subtotal resection on three separate occasions and, 10 months later, exhibited right frontal oligodendroglioma and extracranial metastasis. Spinal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) demonstrated the existence of an enhancing mass lesion with evidence of posterior epidural compression at the 10th-11th thoracic level, not involving the vertebrae. A bone scan of the spine appeared normal, but showed evidence of hot uptake in the pelvis and femur. This report concerns a patient who developed a fatal and clinically unexplained, pancytopenia 3 months after the removal of a spinal epidural oligodendroglioma. Oligodendroglioma with metastasis outside the central nervous system is extremely rare, and only a few cases have previously been reported. A brief review of the literature with an emphasis on the mechanisms of tumor cell dissemination is presented.