Extramedullary hematopoiesis presenting as a compressive cord and cerebral lesion in a patient without a significant hematologic disorder: a case report

INTRODUCTION: Intracranial or spinal compressive lesions due to extramedullary hematopoiesis have been reported in the medical literature. Most of the reported cases are extradural lesions or, on rare occasions, foci within another neoplasm such as hemangioblastoma, meningioma or pilocytic astrocytoma. Often these cases occur in patients with an underlying hematological disorder such as acute myelogenic leukemia, myelofibrosis, or other myelodysplastic syndromes. Such lesions have also been reported in thalassemia major. CASE PRESENTATION: We report the case of a 43-year-old Iranian woman in whom extramedullary hematopoiesis presented as a compressive cord lesion and then later as an intracranial lesion. CONCLUSIONS: To the best of our knowledge, we document the first reported case of sacral, lumbar, thoracic and cranial involvement in the same patient with extramedullary hematopoiesis, which seems both rare and remarkable.