Feasibility of radiosurgery for patients with spinal tumors treated in lateral decubitus position: A case series from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Introduction: Often in clinical practice radiation oncologists encounter patients who require treatment to the spine commonly in the setting of metastatic disease. These metastases usually cause pain, immobility, or neurologic deficits mandating expedited therapy to alleviate the suffering of our patients. Spine radiosurgery techniques have been used extensively for palliation purposes; however, given the patients' deteriorating condition or pain and inability to tolerate anesthesia the radiation oncologist is often left with the conundrum of how to best set up his or her patient in preparation for radiosurgery if supine is not a viable option.