Minimally Invasive Anterolateral Cervical Cordotomy for Intractable Cancer Pain Using Microtubular Retractors: A Single Institution Case Series.

Background And Objectives: As advancements in cancer treatments have allowed patients with a high burden of disease to live longer, the number of patients who present with debilitating refractory pain has increased. Anterolateral cordotomy has long been used for the treatment of intractable unilateral cancer pain using either an imaging-guided percutaneous approach or an open surgical approach. In this report, we describe a novel minimally invasive modification to the open surgical approach.