Hemangiopericytoma of the thoracic spine: a case report

Abstract

Hemangiopericytoma (HPC) has been described to be aggressive and potentially a malignant tumour. We report a rare case of a 63-year-old Chinese male who presented with primary intradural extramedullary HPC of the thoracic spine. The main presenting complaint was gradual progression of back pain, associated with paraparesis and sensory deficit of lower limbs. He had MRI thoracolumbar with contrast which showed T9 lesion compressing on spinal cord and oedema, he was then operated upon and histopathology report confirmed a thoracic spine HPC. A T8/9 laminectomy and excision of intradural extramedullary lesion was performed, tumour section was sent for frozen section study, and more tissue was sent for paraffin studies and additional immunohistochemical staining. Surgical resection is most commonly performed, radiotherapy remains debatable. In this report, we discussed another rare case of primary spinal HPC to be added into the literature.