Article Text
Abstract
A healthy 31-year-old man presenting with back pain was found to have multiple spinal enhancing lesions on MRI. An incidental asymptomatic large pleural effusion was identified on investigations for the back pain and pleural and pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) was subsequently diagnosed. The radiographical features on MRI spine were not typical of spinal TB and a Ga68 DOTATATE Positron Emission Tomography (PET)/CT confirmed metastatic paraganglioma with multiple bone metastases. Although metastatic paraganglioma is rare, this case highlights that even in young patients dual pathology needs to be considered. Most importantly, it is a reminder to physicians managing TB of the clues that help distinguish spinal TB from important alternative causes, including metastatic malignancy.
- head and neck cancer
- tuberculosis
- endocrine cancer
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Footnotes
Patient consent for publication Obtained.
Contributors All authors have made an individual contribution to this case report. JG, CC and GE were involved in the management of this patient as well as planning of the case report and background research. JG has written the majority of this manuscript and JC has provided the interpretation of the radiology images. All authors have contributed to the manuscript editing.
Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Competing interests None declared.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.