ABSTRACT

Melanotic schwannomas are tumors of neural crest cells origin, characterized by cytoplasmic deposition of melanin. These tumors are rare and generally considered benign, capsulated. A 41-year old man presented with low-back and leg pain for two months. On neurological examinati-on; his foot dorsoflexion muscle strenght was +4/5 (5/5) bilaterally and he had hemihypoesthe-sia on left L5 level .His magnetic resonance imaging scan revealed an intradural extramedullary lesion at the level of L4-L5. It is generally believed that, both schwann cells and melanocytes are derived from migrating neural crest cells. Perhaps schwann cells were changed to tumor have ability for synthesizing melanin. The rarity of this entity and the relevance of magnetic resonance imaging in the accurate and early diagnosis is discussed under the view of the literature. Radiot-herapy may be necessary for subtotal resected tumor.