The New England Journal of Medicine has published a case record from Massachusetts General Hospital detailing a 39-year-old man who was admitted with abdominal pain and found to have a spinal mass.
The case was posted by the New England Journal of Medicine (@NEJM), which publishes case records from Massachusetts General Hospital as part of an ongoing clinical series. According to the post, the 39-year-old man had been in his usual state of health until symptoms developed, at which point he was admitted to hospital.
A spinal mass — an abnormal growth on or near the spine — can have several causes, ranging from non-cancerous (benign) cysts to tumours, and its precise nature is typically established through imaging and biopsy. The combination of abdominal pain and a spinal finding is clinically notable because the two can sometimes share a common origin. According to the published NEJM summary, the lesion was identified as a spinal paraganglioma, with treatment involving surgical resection.
The full case record, including clinical details, investigation results and specialist discussion, is available through the journal directly.
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Source: @NEJM