End of the Day

Side view: Mass pressing against the spinal cord

 

We were on a roll. The same day as the previous case I was introduced to the patient who was weak in both legs and could not walk. She had involvement of her spine with breast carcinoma. The lower mass was about to make her permanently paralyzed.

Side view: cervical thoracic with tumor around spinal cord

 

There is another large mass in the cervical thoracic junction which was not yet symptomatic. The lower mass at the thoracolumbar junction was the culprit. So instead of going home we took her to the operating room and removed the tumor. It had compressed her spinal cord.

Top down thoracic spinal with tumor distorting spinal cord

 

Timely decompression gave her a chance to walk again. The next morning she was moving her legs and several days later she stood and walked again. Yes, we were pretty happy for her. And she thanked us too. It was a privilege to be able to save her neurological function and get her to walk again.