Thoracic extradural malignant melanoma with unknown primary

Abstract

Primary extradural spinal melanoma is a very rare lesion. Here, we report a thoracic extradural malignant melanoma in a 77-year-old male. MRI showed a dorsal spinal extradural tumour at the T6–T8 level. The tumour showed hyperintensity on T1W imaging and mixed hypointensity and hyperintensity on T2W imaging. Gadolinium-enhanced MRI showed high enhancement on the lesion. Information on imaging findings for extradural spinal melanoma appears very limited. We discuss the MRI findings from this case, which can be considered typical of extradural spinal melanoma and review the literature.