Spinal osteoblastic meningioma with hematopoiesis: radiologic-pathologic correlation and review of the literature

• Spinal meningiomas comprise 25% of all spinal cord tumors and occur most often in the thoracic spine.
• Calcification of spinal meningiomas occurs in 1% to 5%, and 25 cases of ossification of spinal meningiomas have been reported.
• This is the fourth reported case of hematopoiesis in an osteoblastic spinal meningioma.
• Bone formation and hematopoiesis in meningiomas are not completely understood, but metaplasia of multipotent mesenchymal cells is a hypothesis.

Spinal meningiomas associated with bone formation and hematopoiesis are rare tumors with only 3 prior case reports in the literature. We describe a case report of a woman who presented with back pain and an isolated event of urinary incontinence. A calcified spinal canal mass at T8 was identified on computed tomographic and magnetic resonance imaging. A gross total resection of the tumor was performed and pathologic examination showed a meningioma, World Health Organization grade 1, containing bone and bone marrow elements. A review of previously reported cases and a discussion of possible mechanisms of bone and hematopoiesis development in meningioma are presented.