Thoracic Spinal Cord Glioblastoma Mimicking Epidural Abscess: Case Report and Literature Review

Spinal cord glioblastoma (SG) accounts for 1.5% of all spinal tumors and has a poor prognosis with survival ranging from 2 to 26 months from presentation. A 57-year-old male presented with one week of paraparesis and contrasted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings of an epidural enhancing thoracic mass suspicious for an epidural abscess. Intraoperative and pathologic findings revealed SG. Spinal cord tumors can mimic epidural abscess on MRI. When planning to address extradural spinal pathologies, one should be cognizant of the potential for either isolated or concurrent intradural pathologies. When the epidural findings do not correlate with preoperative imaging, intraoperative ultrasound imaging can identify intradural pathologies without violating the dura.