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Updated: May 11, 2026

Modified Posterior Vertebral Column Resection for Patients with Thoracolumbar Kyphotic Deformity
Published on: September 16, 2022
Hodgkin's disease of the thoracic vertebrae
Masashi Uehara1, Jun Takahashi, Hiroki Hirabayashi
1Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Shinshu University, School of Medicine, 3-1-1 Asahi, Matsumoto City, Nagano 390-8621, Japan.
Background Context:
Hodgkin's disease rarely occurs in the spine, which is usually a setting for the advanced form of the disease.
Purpose:
To describe an unusual case of isolated, primary spinal Hodgkin's disease and to draw attention to this disease as a possible diagnosis in patients with mixed inflammatory cell infiltrate lesions located in the thoracic spine.
Study Design/Setting:
A case report of a 28-year-old woman who presented with back pain and progressive weakness in the lower extremities as a result of spinal cord compression from Hodgkin's disease of the thoracic vertebrae.
Methods:
We report a new case of spinal cord compression resulting from Hodgkin's disease of the thoracic vertebrae. Decompression surgery was performed in the patient, followed by antibiotic treatment.
Results:
Antibiotic therapy temporarily improved inflammation and fever. However, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) evaluation showed that the inflammatory reaction in the lesion was not completely resolved. The disease progressed and later investigations revealed Hodgkin's disease, which improved with a course of chemotherapy and radiation.
Conclusions:
Hodgkin's disease should be considered in the differential diagnosis of spinal neoplastic lesions with clinical features similar to spondylitis. Because MRI evaluation showed that the vertebral disc was maintained in this case, the presence of a tumor rather than inflammation should have been suspected.
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