Spinal epidural non-Hodgkin's lymphoma: case reports of three patients presenting with spinal cord compression

Spinal epidural non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is an uncommon lesion. In this report, we describe three patients with a clinical picture of acute spinal cord compression as the first presentation of malignant lymphoma. The diagnosis was not suspected pre-operatively, and plain radiographs of the spine were either normal or not specific. Neuroimaging showed evidence of extradural soft tissue mass crossing multiple vertebral segments. In the light of these radiological findings, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma should be a diagnostic consideration in the older patient without prior history of malignancy who presents with a prodrome of back pain followed by spinal cord compression.