Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 24, 2026

Endobronchial Ultrasound-guided Intratumoral Injection of Cisplatin for the Treatment of Isolated Mediastinal Recurrence of Lung Cancer
Published on: February 12, 2017
Multimodality therapy improves survival in intramedullary spinal cord metastasis of lung primary
Hayder Saeed1, Reema Patel2, Jigisha Thakkar3
1Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology/BMT, Lexington, KY 40536, USA.
Background:
Most metastatic spinal cord lesions are located either in the intradural, extramedullary, or in the epidural compartments. Intramedullary spinal cord metastasis (ISCM) is a rare central nervous system spread of cancer. The aim of this report was to evaluate ISCM in the published literature.
Methods:
A literature review of PubMed from 1960 to 2016 was undertaken for the publications having demographic, clinical, histological, and outcome data.
Results:
A total of 59 relevant papers were identified, showing 128 cases of intramedullary metastasis from lung cancer. The incidence of lung cancer as the primary malignancy with intramedullary metastasis was 56%. The median time from diagnosis of primary to intramedullary metastasis was 6months. Survival improved with multimodality therapy compared to monotherapy (4monthsvs. 6.3months) (hazard ratio=0.501; 95% confidence interval, 0.293-0.857).
Conclusion:
Lung cancer is the predominant cause of intramedullary involvement of the spinal cord. Overall prognosis is poor, although a multimodality approach was associated with improved survival.

