NEUROCYTOMA OF SPINAL-CORD

We report a case of spinal cord neurocytoma in a 67-year-old man who h ad experienced a progressive numbness of the left foot during the prev ious 4 years. Magnetic resonance imaging showed a well-defined intrame dullary tumor located at the T10-T11 level. The pathological examinati on revealed histological characteristics described in neurocytomas. Th e tumor cells showed a uniform small nucleus and clear or slightly eos inophilic cytoplasm with frequent perinuclear halos, resembling the pi cture of oligodendroglioma. Some tumor cells exhibited mature ganglion cell appearance. Electron microscopy showed cells with microtubules a nd dense-core vesicles in their cytoplasm and cytoplasmic process. Imm unohistochemically, the majority of tumor cells expressed synaptophysi n and neuron-specific enolase. We conclude that this tumor is an excep tional case of neurocytoma located in the spinal cord, and consider th at the term neurocytoma can be applied to tumors with neuronal differe ntiation intermediate between neuroblastoma and ganglioneuroma, even i f arising in CNS outside of the intracranial ventricular system.