Primary diffuse leptomeningeal gliomatosis as a rare cause of pain in cervical spine

BACKGROUND: Primary diffuse leptomeningeal gliomatosis (PDLG) is a very rare neuro-oncological disease, with only 90 cases of PDLG described in medical literature so far. CASE PRESENTATION: We present a case report of a 56-years-old female patient, who was originally hospitalized due to cervical spine pain lasting several months. Despite complex diagnostics and treatment, the neurological state of the patient progressively deteriorated. Patient died 10 months after the first reported symptom. Postmortem pathological findings resulted in the diagnosis of PDLG. CONCLUSIONS: Affection of the cervical spine in early stages of PDLG is rare and has been described in only six patients so far. PDLG is a fatal neuro-oncological disease and it must be kept in mind in the differential diagnosis of persistent back pain syndromes.