Epidural spinal cord compression in cancer patients: diagnosis and management

In most patients with spinal cord compression due to epidural metastasis, the initial symptom is progressive back pain with an axial or radicular distribution, but early symptoms are often nonspecific. Since the key prognostic factor is the neurologic status at the time of presentation, and since early complaints are often nonspecific, a high index of suspicion is needed to diagnose this complication early.