Table 1.

Differential diagnosis of paraspinal masses by medical history

Patient history	Diagnostic assumption
History of primary tumour	Metastasis
History of chronic anaemic states (sickle cell disease, thalassemia)	Extramedullary haematopoiesis
History of neurofibromatosis	Nerve sheath tumour
History of trauma	Haematoma Fat necrosis Fibromatosis Myositis ossificans
Endemic region Immunosuppression	Tuberculosis
Immunosuppression	Lymphoma