Metastatic spinal tumours: survival after surgery

Survival analysis of 70 patients with metastatic extradural tumours of the spine is presented. The indication for surgery was rapidly progressive cord compression as a initial manifestation of a malignant disease in 28 cases (40%), a preoperatively known malignant tumour in 28 patients (40%), relapse of cord compression after previous successful radiotherapy in 10 cases (14%), instability in 3 patients (4%) and uncontrolled pain in 1 patient. In 53 procedures (76%) the level of compression was in the thoracic spine, in 9 procedures in the cervical spine (13%) and in 8 procedures in the lumbar spine (11%). All patients had developed a neural deficit before surgery. Fourteen patients (20%) were able to walk prior to surgery, 47 (67%) were paraparetic, and 9 (13%) were paraplegic. Eleven patients died in the first 2 weeks following surgery and out of 59 patients who survived, 39 patients (66%) were able to walk, 11 were paraparetic (19%), and 9 were still paraplegic (15%). Bowel and bladder dysfunction was present in 37 cases (53%) before surgery and in 16 cases (27%) after surgery. Normal sphincter control was regained after 43 (73%) procedures. Persistent back pain was present in 60 patients (86%) before surgery and in 13 patients (22%) after surgery. The mean survival time for all 70 patients was 45.6 weeks. There were 11 early deaths (16%), another 51 patients died from disseminated disease (88%), and 8 patients are still alive (11%) with a mean survival of 133 weeks. A statistically significantly shorter survival was found in patients with lung metastases when compared with the survival of patients with breast metastases and the overall survival of patients with other metastatic tumours.