[Primary spinal melanoma: a case report]

Intra spinal primary melanoma is a rare entity. We report a new case, atypical in relation to its primary radicular location, and to its early metastatic intradural and extra-medullary location, six months later. MRI is the more valuable examination, showing a spontaneously hyper-intense lesion on T1-weighted MR images, intense enhancement after gadolinium administration, and decreased signal on T2-weighted MR images, thus suggesting a diagnosis of melanocytic or hemorrhagic lesion. Signal abnormalities are not specific and definitive diagnosis is established after histological analysis.