| OBJECTIVE: This case report discusses a patient who presented with right-sided buttock pain of apparently uncomplicated mechanical origin that was eventually diagnosed as a primary Ewing sarcoma/primitive neuroectodermal tumor of the sacrum. CLINICAL FEATURES: A 32-year-old male full-time student presented for care with right-sided buttock pain. INTERVENTION AND OUTCOME: After examination, the patient was referred to his general practitioner for urgent magnetic resonance imaging, the report revealed no explanation for the presenting symptoms. After further imaging and biopsy, an eventual diagnosis of Ewing sarcoma/primitive neuroectodermal tumor was reached. The patient died 12 months later. CONCLUSION: This case highlights a nondiscal cause for cauda equina symptoms. It emphasizes potential diagnostic complexities that may present due to preconceptions based upon the probability of symptoms being related to a specific disease process. Click on the above link for the PubMed record for this article; full text by subscription. This abstract is reproduced with the permission of the publisher. |
