Spinal Burkitt's lymphoma manifesting as nocturnal abdominal pain and constipation: A case report

A 3-year-old boy presented at the Taiwan Adventist Hospital in Taipei with nocturnal epigastric pain and constipation. Abdominal X-ray showed colonic faecal impaction. Abdominal sonography showed gastric stasis with thickened pyloric wall and dilated rectosigmoid colons. The mouth-to-anus transit time (MATT) was prolonged. Endoscopy showed pale gastric mucosa, atony of pylorus and widening of the duodenal bulb. Three weeks after the onset of abdominal pain, he developed urinary incontinence and rapidly deteriorating paraplegia of lower limbs. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed an extradural intraspinal mass of T5-T8 and a soft tissue mass in the right superior mediastinum. After a laminectomy and tumour excision, the patient's symptoms improved quickly. The pathology revealed Burkitt's lymphoma. This is the first report of nocturnal abdominal pain and constipation as the initial manifestation of spinal Burkitt's lymphoma.