PRIMARY SPINAL PRIMITIVE NEUROECTODERMAL TUMOUR - REPORT OF 2 CASES

Primary spinal primitive neuroectodermal tumours (PNETs) are a rare entity. Primitive neuroectodermal tumours (PNET) are aggressive childhood malignancies and offer a significant challenge to treatment. Most of them occur in children and young adults. To date, 47 cases of primary spinal PNET have been reported in the literature. We present two cases of primary spinal extradural PNET. These tumours are highly aggressive with rapid growth as evidenced by the short history in both of our cases. Both cases underwent gross total removal. Review of the literature shows that the overall prognosis of PNETs of the spinal cord is very poor even with adequate surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy.