Solitary Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumor of Lumbar Vertebra Mimicking Metastatic Malignancy

Abstract

Abstract Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor involving solitary lumbar vertebra is extremely rare. A 72-year-old man had a chief complaint of growing lumbocrural pain for 2 months. The CT scan detected a solitary vertebral lesion, which highly supported the diagnosis of metastatic malignancy. 18F-FDG PET/CT demonstrated that the vertebral lesion had heterogeneous intense FDG accumulation with an SUVmax of 16.4. The pathological examination confirmed the diagnosis of malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor. This case highlights that MPNST should be considered when there is solitary vertebra invasion with increased FDG uptake.