Surgical Treatment for Epidural Spine Metastasis

Abstract

Introduction: Metastatic tumors are the most frequent in the spine.

Objective: To evaluate surgical results in patients with epidural spine metastatic tumors, according to pain before and after surgery, their neurological status, and disability index. 

Methods: This is a retrospective longitudinal descriptive study in a sample of 34 patients older than 20 years- longitudinal descriptive study in a sample of 34 patients aged 20 or over from a universe made up of 62 patients. They had spinal metastases, they were treated at Hermanos Ameijeiras hospital from January 2016 to March 2018. They underwent surgery with a decompression technique by corpectomy and spinal fixation. Pain intensity was verified using Denis scale; neurological status using Frankel scale and the percentage of disability using Oswestry scale. Statistical significance tests were applied. The investigation complied with the principles of Declaration of Helsinki.

Results: Patients aged 40 to 59 years (64.7%) and male (67.6%) predominated. The most frequent primary tumor was hematopoietic (41.2%), with involvement of the thoracic segment (57.9%). The Cuban technique was the most used (44.1%). During the preoperative period, the majority were in Denis III, with Frankel D and 66.2% were disabled. At the postoperative evaluation, the majority were in Denis between 0 and 1, Frankel E with preservation of neurological status and 31.4% of disability (p= 0.000).

Conclusions: Surgical treatment of patients with vertebral metastases by means of instrumentation and decompression has clinical benefits, above all, the improvement of pain and neurological function.