[An autopsy case of gliomatosis cerebri with marked swelling of the spinal cord].

We report a 26-year-old male with diffuse infiltration of neoplastic glial cell to the bilateral hemisphere, basal ganglia, cerebellum, brain stem and markedly swollen spinal cord. Initial complaints were general malaise and disturbance of eye movements. The patient died after 30 months. The characteristics of this case included diffuse severe swelling of the brain stem and spinal cord (from the cervical to thoracic levels) shown on MRI without marked change of the hemispheres, cerebellum or basal ganglia. This is a rare case report of spinal swelling that was visually and radiologically apparent, although at present 11 cases of gliomatosis cerebri with histologically proven invasion to the spinal cord. From these facts, it is thought that this case is important from the aspect of the differential diagnosis of the spinal cord lesions.