Dumbbell-shaped Hodgkin's disease with cauda equina compression mimicking a herniated inter-vertebral disc, a case report.

Hodgkin’s disease may involve the spine as a setting of the advanced disease. An initial manifestation of Hodgkin’s disease in spine is extremely rare and the major involved sites usually are the thoracic or cervical spine. The mechanisms of pathogenesis for the formation of an epidural mass during Hodgkin’s disease are hematogenous dissemination from nodal sites or local infiltration of lymphomatous tissue. We document here a case of a 16 year-old boy who suffered from incomplete voiding due to dumbbell-shaped retroperitoneal Hodgkin’s disease with cauda equina compression. He was successfully managed using surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy. Although lymphadenomatous tissue responds well to radiotherapy and chemotherapy, the role of surgery in this case was to achieve immediate nerve tissue decompression and to obtain an adequate specimen for pathological diagnosis. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a non-invasive and helpful tool when detecting spinal and paraspinal lesions and we emphasize that spinal MRI should be performed without delay if there is persistent back pain or sciatica. (Chang Gung Med J 2007;30:458-63)