A 5-year-old Border collie presented with an acute onset of non-ambulatory paraparesis after a 4-week history of back pain. General physical examination and blood work were normal. Neurological examination suggested a T3-L3 myelopathy. CSF was unobtainable in the lumbar spine.

On sagittal T2W MR images, there is a loss of definition to the dorsal aspect of the spinal cord and the epidural space from L2-L5. Transverse T2W images define extradural cord compression between L2-L5 which is predominantly left-sided but is circumferential over the body of L2 to mid-body L4. The cord compression is accompanied by parenchymal hyperintensity. Sublumbar lymphadenopathy can be seen on the T2W sagittal images! There was no evident enhancement.

Based on the suspicion of an extra-parenchymal, likely extra-dural lesion, both inflammatory (empyema) and neoplastic lesions were most likely, especially given the lymphadenopathy.

The dog had a decompressive surgery which confirmed the extra-dural nature of the lesion and cytology confirmed lymphoma, which was later confirmed on fine needle aspirates of the lymph nodes too.