Spinal paragangliomas (SP) are benign and overall rare extra-adrenal neuroendocrine tumors often diagnosed during workup for lower back pain. Complete surgical resection achieves both symptomatic relief and cure. We present a 32-year-old man with a longstanding history of lumbago and bilateral lower extremity pain found to have a lumbar paraganglioma at the level of the L3 vertebrae. The clinical, histopathological, and radiological characteristics are described, including the rare finding of superficial siderosis on MRI of the brain. A laminectomy with microscopic dissection of the intradural mass achieved complete debulking without evidence of residual tumor. Excellent prognosis can be achieved with complete surgical resection of SP without the need for adjuvant therapy. Therefore, care should be taken to distinguish these spinal tumors from those that appear similar but are more aggressive. As such, the radiological finding of superficial siderosis should raise the suspicion for SP when a vascular intradural extramedullary spinal tumor is observed.
Keywords: Cauda equina; Paraganglioma; Superficial siderosis.
Published by Elsevier Ltd.