Yeom JA, Song YS, Lee IS, Han IH, Choi KU. Malignant melanotic nerve sheath tumors in the spinal canal of psammomatous and non-psammomatous type: Two case reports. World J Clin Cases 2022; 10(24): 8735-8741 [PMID: 36157803 DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i24.8735]
Corresponding Author of This Article
You Seon Song, Doctor, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Radiology, Pusan National University Hospital, No. 179 Gudeok-ro, Seo-gu, Busan 49241, South Korea. yssongrad@gmail.com
Research Domain of This Article
Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging
Article-Type of This Article
Case Report
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Clin Cases. Aug 26, 2022; 10(24): 8735-8741 Published online Aug 26, 2022. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i24.8735
Malignant melanotic nerve sheath tumors in the spinal canal of psammomatous and non-psammomatous type: Two case reports
Jeong A Yeom, You Seon Song, In Sook Lee, In Ho Han, Kyung Un Choi
Jeong A Yeom, Department of Radiology, Pusan National University Yangsan Hospital, Yangsan 50612, South Korea
You Seon Song, In Sook Lee, Department of Radiology, Pusan National University Hospital, Busan 49241, South Korea
In Ho Han, Department of Neurosurgery, Pusan National University Hospital, Busan 49241, South Korea
Kyung Un Choi, Department of Pathology, Pusan National University Hospital, Busan 49241, South Korea
Author contributions: Song YS and Yeom JA contributed to manuscript writing, editing and data collection; Choi KU and Han IH contributed to data analysis; Lee IS contributed to conceptualization and supervision; All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported bya Clinical Research Grant from Pusan National University Hospital (2020).
Informed consent statement: Informed written consent was obtained from the patients for publication of this report and any accompanying images.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: You Seon Song, Doctor, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Radiology, Pusan National University Hospital, No. 179 Gudeok-ro, Seo-gu, Busan 49241, South Korea. yssongrad@gmail.com
Received: March 21, 2022 Peer-review started: March 21, 2022 First decision: May 30, 2022 Revised: June 11, 2022 Accepted: July 16, 2022 Article in press: July 16, 2022 Published online: August 26, 2022 Processing time: 147 Days and 22.5 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
A malignant melanotic nerve sheath tumor (MMNST), previously known as a melanotic schwannoma, is a rare variant of a peripheral nerve sheath tumor composed of Schwann cells with melanotic differentiation. Only a few reports of spinal MMNST have been reported.
CASE SUMMARY
In the first case, a 58-year-old woman presented with a history of low back pain and paresthesia. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) of the lumbar spine revealed an intradural extramedullary mass lesion with amorphous linear calcification. Complete tumor resection was performed and histological examination revealed a psammomatous melanotic schwannoma. In the second case, a 72-year-old man presented with low back pain and paresthesia. MRI of the thoracolumbar spine revealed an intramedullary mass lesion at the T11 vertebral body level. The mass lesion was hypointense on T2WI and hyperintense on T1WI. Tumor resection was performed and the histologic result was melanotic schwannoma.
CONCLUSION
MMNST should be considered in the differential diagnosis when calcification or melanin is seen in an intradural spinal tumor.
Core Tip: Spinal malignant melanotic nerve sheath tumor (MMNST) are rare entities. We report two cases of spinal MMNSTs with or without psammomatous bodies. These cases highlight the importance of considering these rare entities when there are characteristic imaging findings such as the presence of intra-lesional T1-hyperintensity or calcification in intradural spinal tumors.
