Soft tissue sarcoma affecting the right shoulder of a man with paraplegia from a remote traumatic spinal cord injury: a case report

INTRODUCTION: People with spinal cord injury (SCI) are getting older due to a combination of increased life expectancy and older age at the time of injury. This trend makes it more likely for these patients to have other chronic health conditions including cancer. Inevitably relatively rare cancers such as soft tissue sarcomas (STS), which are more common with advancing age, will occur in some SCI patients. The present case represents the first report of a limb STS in a patient with chronic paraplegia from a traumatic SCI. CASE PRESENTATION: We report a case of a 50-year-old right handed male with a T6 chronic, complete SCI (American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale A) who presented with a large mass involving his right shoulder musculature that was determined to be a high grade spindle cell sarcoma. The patient was followed closely by Physiatry over an approximately 6-month time course including prior to his tumor diagnosis, during the pre-radiation and pre-surgical planning phase, and then post-operatively for his acute inpatient rehabilitation. He was successfully discharged home to live alone in his accessible apartment complex. DISCUSSION: This case is the first ever reported case of a person living with a traumatic SCI who subsequently developed a limb STS. In addition to its novelty, this case illustrates how health conditions such as rare cancers are presenting more often as the chronic SCI population is getting older, which creates both unique diagnostic and management challenges for cancer rehabilitation specialists.