A child with neuroblastoma extending along whole cervical spinal canal [Tüm servikal spinal kanal boyunca nöroblastomu olan bir çocuk]

Introduction: neuroblastoma accounts for more than 7% of malignancies in patients younger than 15 years. it is the most common extracranial solid tumor in childhood. neuroblastomas rarely settle in the cervical spine. there is no report in the literature like the present report which shows whole cervical spinal canal infiltration with neuroblastoma. current therapeutic strategies include surgical resection,chemotherapy,and radiation therapy. in children,however,spinal surgery or radiotherapy may cause spinal deformities. chemotherapy is shown as a first line therapeutic approach recently. we also try to give an idea about therapeutic strategy with this presented report. case report: a 13-year-old child was admitted to the hospital with acute weakness and paresthesia in both legs and arms. neurological examination revealed quadraparesis. magnetic resonance imaging (mri) of the cervical spine revealed an extradural lesion extending from c1 to c7 and causing spinal cord compression from right side. right hemipartial laminectomy was performed in almost whole cervical segment. tumor which pushed spinal cord to the left side was removed gross totally. pathological analysis revealed neuroblastoma. after surgery the patient's quadraparesis improved substantially. postoperative mri showed decompressed cervical spinal cord. computed tomography (ct) showed cervical stability and hemi-partial laminectomy. discussion: in recent years,chemotherapy is shown as first choice of treatment for pediatric patients with neuroblastoma. according to our present case; urgent decompressive surgery is a priority when surgical haemostasis and spinal stability are preserved. © 2015,ege university press. all rights reserved.