Rosai-Dorfman disease (RDD) or sinus histiocytosis with massive lymphadenopathy is a rare benign disorder usually characterized by massive painless cervical lymphadenopathy and systemic manifestations. Extranodal involvement, especially spinal involvement, is extremely rare. We report a 41-year-old man who presented with only intermittent dorsodynia. His condition was diagnosed as non-specific inflammatory disease on the basis of preoperative puncture biopsy results. We performed total surgical resection. Histopathological findings showed distinctive emperipolesis and immunohistochemistry results were positive for cluster of differentiation CD68 and S100 and negative for CD1a. A good prognosis was confirmed at the 3-month follow-up visit. This is the first case of RDD of the subdural spine with such a long segment lesion. There is still no consensus regarding appropriate therapy for this type of RDD and the preoperative diagnosis remains challenging. The unusual presentation of our case serves as a reference when diagnosing and treating RDD.
Keywords: Rosai-Dorfman disease; case report; sinus histiocytosis; spine involvement.