Coexistence of multiple cavernous angiomas in the spinal cord and skin: a unique case of Cobb syndrome

Abstract

Cobb syndrome is a rare, noninherited, neurocutaneous disease characterized by vascular abnormality of the spinal cord and is associated with vascular lesions in the skin at the same metamere. The majority of spinal vascular lesions are arteriovenous malformations, and skin lesions are mostly port-wine angiomas. The authors report the first case of multiple intramedullary cavernous angiomas (CAs) accompanied by skin CAs within the same metamere. A 42-year-old man presented with an acute onset of gait disturbance, low-back pain, and urinary incontinence. Magnetic resonance imaging of the thoracolumbar spine showed homogeneously enhanced lesions on a contrast-enhanced T1-weighted image and a hypointense area on a T2*-weighted image surrounding this enhanced lesion, between the T-12 and S-1 levels. Purple protruding skin lesions were detected on the left side of his gluteal region. The patient received a laminectomy followed by evacuation of a hematoma and partial removal of the tumor, which completely resolved his neurological symptoms. Pathological examinations showed that the spinal and skin lesions were CAs, suggesting that these vascular lesions developed congenitally. Cavernous angiomas associated with Cobb syndrome present with multiple lesions spanning more than 3 vertebral levels, making it difficult to completely resect these tumors. Although Cobb syndrome is an uncommon disease entity, it should be considered if a patient manifesting with neurological deficits has skin vascular lesions, including CAs.