Open AccessMalignant Carcinoid Causing Spinal Cord Compression
Author(s) -
Gerald T. Gowitt,
Suzanne S. Mirra
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
neurosurgery/neurosurgery online
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.485
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 1081-1281
pISSN - 0148-396X
DOI - 10.1227/00006123-198511000-00013
Subject(s) - medicine , laminectomy , spinal cord compression , spinal cord , differential diagnosis , carcinoid tumors , pathology , metastasis , metastatic tumor , central nervous system , cancer , psychiatry
Neurological complications of malignant carcinoid are infrequent, Only 11 cases of central nervous system metastasis are documented, and neurological symptoms may be the initial or only manifestation of this tumor. We describe the case of a 60-year-old man with no known primary tumor who presented with spinal cord compression by a thoracic epidural tumor. After laminectomy, the diagnosis of carcinoid was made by light and electron microscopic demonstration of neurosecretory granules in tumor cells. Urine 5-hydroxyindole acetic acid and plasma serotonin levels were subsequently found to be elevated. Carcinoid tumors should be considered in the differential diagnosis of lesions metastatic to the spinal cord and brain.