Non-hodgkin lymphoma presenting with tetraparesis in a 3-year-old child

Spinal cord compression (SCC) is a rare presentation of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) which requires early diagnosis and prompt treatment to avoid devastating events and permanent neurological deficits.

We report a 3-year-old boy with a history of rapidly progressive tetraparesis. MRI revealed a large mass in the left side of the neck extending from the skull base into the supraclavicular fossa with extra- and intra-dural extension of this mass, causing cervical SCC from C1/2 to C7/T1 level. Liver and right kidney lesions were present as well. A 'tru-cut' needle biopsy was performed under general anaesthetic and histological examination showed a high-grade B cell lymphoma. In light of the extensive CNS involvement, chemotherapy was commenced with prednisolone, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, doxorubicin, methotrexate, cytarabine and etoposide. Patient neurological status started to improve clinically 1 week after commencement of chemotherapy. He made good neurological recovery and after 6 months was fully mobile without any neurological deficits. Six-month MRI showed complete resolution of the intraspinal-extradural disease, which unfortunately recurred 1 year after the initial diagnosis, involving the cervical and upper thoracic spinal cord.

In view of the satisfactory neurological outcome that treatment with chemotherapy can achieve, and bearing in mind the potential complications and late adverse consequences of decompressive laminectomy or radiotherapy in a very young child, biopsy of the extraspinal part of the tumour causing SCC should be considered first, before more aggressive therapeutic measures are decided.