LESIONS OF THE CAUDA-EQUINA - A CLINICAL AND PATHOLOGY REVIEW FROM THE ARMED-FORCES-INSTITUTE-OF-PATHOLOGY

We reviewed the clinical records of 149 patients with pathologically p roved cauda equina lesions in order to define the relative frequency a nd clinical presentations of the various diagnoses. The most common pa thology was ependymomas (47 patients) followed in frequency by nerve s heath tumors (35 patients), metastases (27 patients), nonependymal gli al neoplasms (six patients), meningiomas (six patients), lipomas (five patients), paragangliomas (live patients) and various other diagnoses (19 patients). Mean patient age at presentation for the various lesio ns included: metastases (51.5 years), nerve sheath tumors (49.7 years) , nonependymal glial tumors (46.5 years), paragangliomas (41.2 years), ependymomas (38.3 years), meningiomas (34.7 years), and lipomas (18.4 years). ANOVA showed that the relationship between age and diagnosis for these groups to be statistically significant at a high level (P = 0.002). Low back pain was the most common symptom and occurred in 44 p atients. Other symptoms included unilateral lower extremity pain or te nderness (24 patients), bilateral lower extremity pain or tenderness ( 16 patients), and bilateral lower extremity weakness (16 patients). No relationship between pathologic diagnosis and specific symptoms was f ound. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.