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.