Case report of intraspinal lipoma.

The clinical diagnosis of intramedullary lipoma, an uncommon cause of spinal cord compression, is difficult pre-operatively. The lesion may mimic any cause of spinal cord compression including malignancy. The distinction from these other disease processes is so important regarding the prognosis. We report here such a case unsuspected pre-operatively and review the management, especially the possible role of computerized tomography (CT), in the diagnostic work-up prior to surgery.