Primary Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma of the Spine: A Case Report

A 16-year-old male patient abruptly developed weakness and tremor of the right leg and was unable to stand up two months ago. Lumbar spine radiograph revealed a suspicious, purely osteolytic lesion at the vertebral body of L5. No pathologic fracture was noted. The lesion showed permeative, purely osteolytic bone destruction of the vertebral body of L5 on computed tomography (CT) image. An epidural soft tissue mass at the corresponding level with ventral compression on the thecal sac was also noted. Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging of the lesion was hypointense on T1-weighted images and hyperintense on T2-weighted images. Good contrast enhancement was found on Gadolinium enhanced T1-weighted images. Bone marrow aspiration of the sternum revealed no abnormalities. Tumor was removed by operation and histologically proved to be large cell lymphoma with massive necrosis. Primary non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma of bone is rare, especially in spine. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the MR and CT findings of primary non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma of the spine in a young patient.