A 63 year-old man with presented with a two month history of mid-back pain followed by rapidly progressive paraplegia and incontinence over 24 hours. He had a history of a nephrectomy years earlier for renal cell carcinoma.

Axial T2-weighted MRI Scans of the Thoracic Spine: (Left) T5; (Middle) T5-6; (Right) T6. Note the large tumor arising from the posterior bony elements on the right of the T6 vertebral body. On the T5 issue, note that the cord is being displaced to the left. At the T6 level, the cord is completely encased and compressed. Decompression and biopsy demonstrated renal cell carcinoma.