Background:
An anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) involving the cervical spine and leading to quadriplegia is very rare.
Case Description:
A 48-year-old immunocompetent male presented with quadriplegia that warranted an anterior cervical corpectomy/fusion. He was previously being presumptively treated for cervical disease attributed to tuberculosis. The histopathology and immunohistochemistry revealed an ALCL that was anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) negative. The patient had a favorable response to surgery followed by CHOEP (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, etoposide, and prednisolone) chemotherapy.
Conclusion:
ALK-negative ALCL presenting with quadriplegia due to primary involvement of cervical spine is extremely rare, but must be diagnosed and appropriately managed.
Head trauma is still a leading cause of mortality in neurosurgical practice. Among various post-traumatic pathologies, extradural haematoma (EDH) is an acute condition that has good neurological outcomes if intervened promptly. New contralateral delayed EDH (DEDH) in an operated case of ipsilateral EDH is a very rare entity, which if not diagnosed timely may lead to devastating outcomes, sometimes even death. We present a case of newly found contralateral DEDH with significant mass effect and midline shift in the immediate postoperative scan, in an operated case of right frontoparietal EDH, which was not found in the initial preoperative scan. A high index of suspicion is needed in cases of unilateral EDH with contralateral skull fracture along with tense dura after the evacuation of EDH, to diagnose rare but life-threatening contralateral DEDH. Routine immediate postoperative CT scan will prevent devastating complications in these kinds of patients.
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