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A 44-year-old male was admitted for numbness in the left arm. CT showed a tumor impacting on the spinal cord with an adjacent thoracic vertebral osteosclerotic lesion. The histopathology of the tumor showed diffuse proliferation of atypical plasma cells with expressed vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which is a known etiological factor in POEMS syndrome. Though serum VEGF (sVEGF) level was elevated, a diagnosis of solitary plasmacytoma with an osteosclerotic lesion was made as the patient presented no polyneuropathy, organomegaly, endocrinopathy, or skin changes. The patient experienced muscle weakness of the lower limbs and skin pigmentation/hemangioma one year after irradiation of the osteosclerotic lesion. Laboratory tests revealed hypothyroidism, hyperglycemia, serum monoclonal gammopathy, further elevation of sVEGF, and increased atypical bone marrow plasma cells. CT imaging showed splenomegaly, and a nerve conduction test revealed demyelinating motor peripheral neuropathy. The patient was therefore diagnosed with POEMS syndrome. Plasmacytoma is very rare as an initial manifestation of POEMS syndrome. Patients presenting with plasmacytoma with an osteosclerotic lesion should be carefully observed and evaluated for the expression of sVEGF and development of POEMS syndrome, as most bone plasmacytomas in POEMS syndrome patients are reported to be osteosclerotic. This is to our knowledge the first case of osteosclerotic plasmacytoma that progressed to POEMS syndrome, with an increase of sVEGF.

A 72-year-old right-handed woman presented with a 6-month history of right thoracic wall discomfort. An MRI of the thoracic spine showed a small dumbbell-shaped mass centered within the right T7-8 foramen. The patient was asked to return to clinic for reevaluation to include a new MRI of the thoracic spine in 6 months. She did not comply with this recommendation and 1 year later, she presented with increasing difficulty ambulating and spastic paraparesis. A follow-up MRI of the thoracic spine now demonstrated significant interval growth of the mass with an extra-foraminal component extending into the thoracic cavity. She was taken to the operating room for resection of the epidural tumor. The pathology was consistent with diffuse follicle center lymphoma as cells were immunohistologically positive for CD20, CD 10, BCL-2 and BCL-6. Primary spinal follicle center lymphomas of the spine are rare with the current case being the first diffuse follicle center type reported in the literature.

A patient with epidural metastases from a gastrointestinal stromal tumour (GIST) is described. We present the clinical course and the literature is reviewed. After standard irradiation and surgical intervention, the tyrosine kinase inhibitor STI571 should be considered for treatment of metastatic GIST.

A case of follicular center cell lymphoma arising in the spinal dura mater is presented. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first case of primary epidural lymphoma in which immunohistochemical and molecular investigations demonstrated a follicular center cell origin.

A case of an epidural spinal peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumor (pPNET) in a 13-year-old girl is presented. The tumor was disseminated at the moment of diagnosis, thus only diagnostic oligobiopsy of the epidural mass was performed. Histologically the tumor was composed of small round blue cells. The neoplastic cells expressed MIC2 and features of neural differentiation on immunohistochemical staining (neuron-specific enolase, synaptophysin and NCAM positivity). Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis was performed for the final diagnosis and the translocation t(11;22)(q24;q12) was detected. The present case emphasizes the usefulness of FISH in differential diagnosis of tumors, especially when only routinely fixed material is available.

Oestrogen receptors (ER) and progesterone receptors (PR) have been reported by several authors in the stromal cells of the human prostate. Controversial results exist on the expression of ER and PR in epithelial cells of the prostate. Some recent publications, in contrast to previous findings, have suggested that these receptors are also present in human prostate cancer cell lines derived from metastatic lesions. The expression of ER and PR in these cell lines has been re-examined to determine their presence in lymph node metastases from patients who did not receive any kind of endocrine therapy and in distant metastases obtained from patients who failed endocrine treatment. ER and PR expression in LNCaP, PC-3, and DU-145 cells was assessed by means of the reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, ligand binding assays, and immunohistochemistry. With all the techniques applied, the three cell lines were found to be negative for both ER and PR. Immunohistochemical analyses were performed in four lymph node metastases obtained at radical prostatectomy from patients who did not receive endocrine therapy and in 17 distant metastases obtained at palliative surgery from patients who failed endocrine therapy. All 21 metastases were negative for ER and PR on immunohistochemistry. These results do not support the recently developed concept that receptors for oestrogenic and progestagenic steroids are present in metastases from human prostate cancer.

A 20-year-old male developed both coccygeal and leg pain and followed by rectocystic disturbance. Disc herniation between L5 and S was suspected and laminectomy was performed. At surgery, an easily curretable tumor occupied the epidural space from L5 to the end of the sacrum. In part, the tumor spread out of the vertebral canal and invaded the surrounding muscle tissue. This muscle tissue and part of the lamina were checked histologically. Initial blood analysis revealed 5% blast-like cells, but failed to confirm them as leukemic cells. Histologically, the tumor cells had round or oval nuclei with large nucleoli and scanty cytoplasm without granulocytic differentiation. Malignant lymphoma or Ewing's sarcoma was initially suspected, but the definite diagnosis was uncertain. Immunohistochemical staining with the PAP method and enzyme histochemistry revealed that the tumor cells were positive for lysozyme and naphthol ASD chloracetate esterase. Thus, granulocytic sarcoma was finally diagnosed. Electron microscopic findings supported this diagnosis. Subsequent karyotyping of bone marrow cells revealed 8; 21 translocation, thus the final diagnosis of this patient was myelodysplastic syndrome, refractory anemia with excess blast cells in transformation or acute myelogenous leukemia, M2, by the FAB classification.