Case Report Metastatic prostate cancer in ossification of the ligamentum flavum—a case report

BACKGROUND CONTEXT: No previous reports have described a metastatic tumor located in the ossification of the ligamentum flavum (OLF). PURPOSE: To report an extremely rare case of metastatic tumor located in the OLF. STUDY DESIGN: Case report. METHODS: We report a case of a 54-year-old man who sustained paraparesis attributable to spinal cord compression because of OLF in the thoracic spine. RESULTS: The OLF at T3/T4 and T5/T6, together with the laminae of T3‐T6, was resected. Histologically, the removed section mainly consisted of mature bone with some elastic fiber and fibrocartilage.Tumorcellswithatubularconstruction,compatiblewithmetastaticadenocarcinoma,werealso observedin the OLF. Thesefindings are consistent with metastatic prostate cancer in the OLF. Eleven months after surgery, the patient showed improvement in gait disturbance and bladder-bowel disturbance that existed before surgery. CONCLUSION: This is the first case of metastatic tumor located in the OLF. 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.