Spinal metastases. A rare mode of presentation of brain tumors

An analysis of more than 18,000 primary central nervous system (CNS) tumors revealed only 18 cases (0.01%) in which dropped spinal metastases had caused the presenting symptoms. This group included 11 males and 7 females in whom there was no history of surgical intervention or irradiation. Primitive neuroectodermal tumors (PNET, medulloblastoma), comprised the largest group (11 patients) followed by high‐grade astrocytomas (anaplastic astrocytoma and glioblastoma) (5 patients). One case each of germinoma and ependymoma were also identified. The clinicopathologic data of these cases, and a brief review of the literature are presented.