Intramedullary metastasis

Three cases of intramedullary metastases and one of a metastasis into the medulla oblongata are described. In two cases the primary tumour was a bronchial carcinoma and in one case a carcinoma of the breast. In one patient a primary tumour could not be found. The literature on this condition is reviewed and the difficulties of clinical diagnosis are discussed. The question remains unanswered as to the mechanism by which these tumour-cells reach the spinal cord and there is, as yet, no satisfactory explanation for the relative rare occurrence of these metastases.