Use spinal compartment anatomy and recovery timing to estimate prognosis and narrow the differential between epidural compression and intradural tumors. Document the lesion level and the management step it implies.

Timely B12 treatment can produce partial or near-complete recovery over a year; Diagnostic delay limits the chance of neurologic recovery; Epidural disease often means abscess or metastasis; Intradural extramedullary tumors are commonly meningioma or schwannoma; Intramedullary tumors are commonly ependymoma or astrocytoma