Intramedullary spinal cord metastases: a 20-year institutional experience with a comprehensive literature review.

Objectives: To review previous reports as well as our institutional experience to address the issues regarding patient management and also to assess the predisposing factors that might influence outcome and survival.

Methods: We undertook a 20-year (1989-2009) retrospective study of a series of eight patients diagnosed with intramedullary spinal cord metastases (ISCMs) in our institute. We further reviewed 293 cases of ISCMs reported in the English literature since 1960.