Complete removal of vertebrae for extirpation of tumors. A 20-year experience

Long-term results of complete removal of vertebrae with a minimum follow-up period of seven years are reported in 23 consecutive patients from March 1968 to January 1981. Seven patients were treated with vertebrectomy above the sacrum: three for a giant-cell tumor (T11, T12, and L1; T11; and L4), one for chondrosarcoma (one-half T6, T7, and one-half T8), one for chordoma (L3), one for plasmocytoma (L1), and one for a metastasis of renal carcinoma (L1). The latter two patients eventually died of generalized disease, whereas the other five patients have no evidence of tumor after seven to 20 years. In the six patients in whom the spine was reconstructed using corticocancellous iliac bone, a block-vertebra was created by the grafts and the adjacent vertebrae, allowing two women to complete one or more pregnancies successfully. Sixteen patients were treated with removal of sacral vertebrae (from one-half S3, S4, and S5 to all). None of the seven patients treated with adequate surgery for a sacral chordoma has had a local recurrence. Two women have given birth to children after sacral amputations, one performed for rhabdomyosarcoma and the other for a huge ganglioneuroma. A patient treated with a hemicorporectomy for chondrosarcoma 18 years ago has no evidence of tumor.