Myelophthisis as a solitary manifestation of failure from rectal carcinoma. A Batson phenomenon?

Revisiting the Vertebral Venous Plexus-A Comprehensive Review of the Literature

The venous drainage of the vertebral and paravertebral regions is important for a better understanding of hematogenous disease spread. Moreover, the spine surgeon must be well acquainted with this anatomy to minimize intraoperative and postoperative complications. A comprehensive review of the vertebral venous plexus (Batson plexus) was performed with a concentration on the clinical and surgical correlations of this venous network.

Signet ring cell carcinoma of the rectum: atypical metastatic presentation

Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer in the world and the fourth most common cause of death related to cancer. Signet ring cell carcinoma represents an uncommon histological type for rectal cancer with less than 1% of all rectal neoplasms. It usually behaves aggressively and has an inferior prognosis. We present the case of a young man diagnosed with signet ring cell rectal carcinoma. He underwent neoadjuvant therapy with partial response, had surgery with curative intent and showed local recurrence after only 3 months. Disease progression happened only weeks after recurrence with metastasis to vertebrae, extraocular muscles, bone marrow and skin. He is currently receiving palliative chemotherapy.

Venous drainage of the spine and spinal cord: a comprehensive review of its history, embryology, anatomy, physiology, and pathology

Venous drainage of the spine and spinal cord is accomplished through a complex network of venous structures compartmentalized to intrinsic, extrinsic, and extradural systems. As the literature on this topic is scarce, the following review was performed to summarize the available literature into a single coherent format. The medical literature on the spinal venous system was reviewed using online sources as well as historical documents that were not available online in regard to history, embryology, anatomy, and physiology with a particular emphasis on the pathology affecting this system. The spinal venous system is complex and variable. Proper understanding of all aspects is critical for the management of the pathology that results from its failure.

Rectal Carcinoma Case Causing Bicytopenia

Although conditions leading to bicytopenia and pancytopenia secondary to infiltrative diseases of the bone marrow are seen, a profound anemia or hemorrhages are frequently observed in such cases. As bone marrow infiltrations may be associated with primary hematological diseases such as leukemia, lymphoma or myeloma, rarely they may also be associated with solid tumor metastases. Here we have presented a case of rectal carcinoma causing profound bicytopenia dependent on diffuse bone marrow involvement.