Concomitant ependymoma and schwannoma of the lumbar spine without neurofibromatosis

Abstract

The coexistence of 2 or more different tumors of the central neural axis has been defined and is well known in patients with neurofibromatosis-2 (NF-2), an inherited autosomal dominant disorder caused by defects in chromosome 22. The presence of multiple histologically different spinal tumors in the absence of NF-2 is extremely rare, however. The authors describe a patient with backache, in whom an ependymoma and a schwannoma of the lumbar spine were found in the absence of NF-2.