A 23-year-old man from the Philippines was admitted to our emergency department for a three-weeks-lasting thoracic back pain, followed by an onset of postural instability; he also complained about repeated alternation of constipation and diarrhoea, associated with burning abdominal pain. On physical examination, the patient showed ataxic gait, a T10 spinal sensory level and symmetric hyperreflexia at lower limbs. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan of the spine was performed and revealed the collapse of the ninth thoracic vertebral body and a pathologic mass invading the spinal canal with spinal cord compression (Fig. 1).
