Lesions of the cauda equina: a clinical and pathology review from the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology

We reviewed the clinical records of 149 patients with pathologically proved cauda equina lesions in order to define the relative frequency and clinical presentations of the various diagnoses. The most common pathology was ependymomas (47 patients) followed in frequency by nerve sheath tumors (35 patients), metastases (27 patients), nonependymal glial neoplasms (six patients), meningiomas (six patients), lipomas (five patients), paragangliomas (five patients) and various other diagnoses (19 patients). Mean patient age at presentation for the various lesions included: metastases (51.5 years), nerve sheath tumors (49.7 years), nonependymal glial tumors (46.5 years), paragangliomas (41.2 years), ependymomas (38.3 years), meningiomas (34.7 years), and lipomas (18.4 years). ANOVA showed that the relationship between age and diagnosis for these groups to be statistically significant at a high level (P=0.002). Low back pain was the most common symptom and occurred in 44 patients. Other symptoms included unilateral lower extremity pain or tenderness (24 patients), bilateral lower extremity pain or tenderness (16 patients), and bilateral lower extremity weakness (16 patients). No relationship between pathologic diagnosis and specific symptoms was found.