Decision Making for the Surgical Treatment of Vertebral Metastases Among Patients with Short Predicted Survival.

Background: A wide spectrum of treatment choices is proposed for poor-prognosis patients with vertebral metastases. The continuous increase of this population and the propagation of less invasive techniques necessitate further study concerning which patients could benefit from palliative surgery.

Methods: All patients with a Tokuhashi score ≤8 who had undergone palliative surgical treatment for vertebral metastasis within 4 years were retrospectively reviewed.

Minimally invasive decompression and stabilization for the management of thoracolumbar spine metastasis.

Object: Spinal metastasis with spinal cord involvement is a frequent complication in cancer patients. As the spinal compression frequently occurs ventrally, performing a simple posterior laminectomy alone is generally ineffective and dangerous. Many aggressive surgical strategies have been developed to improve outcomes for patients with metastatic spine disease.