Is it necessary to embolise all spinal metastases from primary renal tumours?

Introduction: Spinal metastases secondary to renal cell carcinoma are associated with significant intra-operative blood loss. Our aim was to assess if embolisation reduced the intra-operative blood loss and transfusion requirement.

Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study of 25 patients undergoing surgery between 2003 and 2011.

Results: 14 underwent pre-operative embolisation; 11 did not. There was no significant difference in intra-operative blood loss, 1336 ml vs 1492 ml in the non-embolised ( value = 0.116). 43% of embolised patients required an intra operative blood transfusion vs 27% in the non-embolised.

Conclusion: Our results suggest that not all patients with spinal metastatic renal carcinoma require pre-operative embolisation.