A rare presentation of leiomyosarcoma metastasis to the cervical spine: A case report and a brief review.

BACKGROUND

Leiomyosarcoma (LMS) is a rare malignancy that originates from smooth muscle. The most common sites of metastases include the lungs, liver, kidney, and skin. Notably, metastases of LMS to the central nervous system/or spine are extremely rare. When a cervical spinal LMS lesion was encountered, the patient successfully underwent gross total tumor resection with negative margins.

CASE DESCRIPTION

A 63-year-old female had undergone an anterior cervical C5-C7 diskectomy and fusion 18 years ago and resection of a retroperitoneal LMS 3 years ago. She newly presented with right-sided numbness and pain of 2 months duration that correlated with a focal right-sided C5-level hemiparesis (i.e., 4/5 motor strength). When the cervical magnetic resonance demonstrated a right-sided C5 intralaminar mass with extension into the C5-C6 foramen, she underwent posterior tumor resection; pathologically, this proved to be an LMS metastasis. Respectively, 1- and six months postoperatively, follow-up magnetic resonance imaging scans showed no tumor recurrence; she tolerated adjuvant oncological treatment accompanied by physical therapy. However, in one postoperative year, the lesion recurred, and she is presently under consideration for additional surgical management.

CONCLUSION

Gross total surgical resection is the first line of treatment for patients with metastatic LMS. Here, a patient with a C5 laminar/C5-C6 foraminal bony LMS metastasis underwent posterior tumor resection accompanied by adjuvant oncological treatment but exhibited disease recurrence within one postoperative year.