Melanocytic schwannomas. Report of three cases.

OBJECTIVE AND IMPORTANCE: Melanocytic tumors are rare. The literature reports less than 40 cases and suggests that they behave aggressively, can recur and progress to malignancy.

CLINICAL PRESENTATION: We report three patients with melanocytic schwannomas located in the cervical spine, in the thoracic spine and in the lumbar spine. In the two first cases, these symptoms were a spinal cord compression whereas the last patient presented symptoms of cruralgy.

IMAGING: MRI always showed an extramedullary intradural tumor arising from the root destroying the intervertebral foramen.

INTERVENTION: The patients underwent laminectomy and the excision was complete. Immunohistochemical stains were positive to S100 and HMB45 antibodies. The evolution was unfavourable for two patients with local recurrence and leptomeningeal metastasis.

CONCLUSION: These three cases demonstrate that melanocytic schwannomas have a guarded prognosis because of their metastatic potential, especially for young people.