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Idiopathic Focal Osteonecrosis of T9 Vertebral Body Mimicking a Malignant Tumor: A Case Report
Arvind G Kulkarni1, Shankargouda Patil1, Aniruddh Agrawal2
1Mumbai Spine Scoliosis and Disc Replacement Centre, Bombay Hospital and Medical Research Centre, Marine Lines, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
Introduction:
Occurrence of a focal lytic lesion which is "hot" on positron emission tomography (PET) scan is presumed to be neoplastic until proven otherwise. Focal osteonecrosis of vertebral body (VB) without collapse is a rare entity with sparse literature available.
Case Report:
A focal osteolytic lesion in a patient with a history of breast carcinoma, in remission, thought to be metastatic lesion on magnetic resonance imaging and PET-computed tomography (CT), with an inconclusive CT-guided biopsy, was found to be osteonecrosis on histopathology of aggregates of tissue obtained from the T9 VB during open surgery.
Conclusion:
Osteonecrosis without a VB collapse is a rare diagnosis, but should be considered a differential when examining suspected metastatic lesions in VB.
