Incidence and Survival of Patients With Malignant Primary Spinal Cord Tumors: A Population-Based Analysis

Epidemiological studies on spinal cord tumors are rare, and studies on primary intramedullary tumors are even rarer. The incidence and survival of patients with primary intramedullary spinal cord tumors have not been well documented. We aimed to study the incidence and survival of patients with primary spinal cord malignant and borderline malignant tumors based on data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database and provide information for revealing the epidemiology and exploring the prognosis of patients with primary intramedullary tumors.

Patients in the SEER database with microscopically diagnosed malignant and borderline malignant primary spinal cord tumors from 2000 and 2019 were included in this study. We analyzed the distribution of patients according to the demographic and clinical characteristics. Then, we extracted the incidence rate and 5-year relative survival for the whole cohort and different subgroups of the cohort. Finally, multivariate Cox proportional hazards models were used to analyze the independent prognostic factors associated with overall survival.

A total of 5,211 patients with malignant and borderline malignant primary spinal cord tumors were included in this cohort study. Ependymoma, astrocytoma (including oligodendrogliomas and glioblastoma), lymphoma and hemangioblastoma were the most common pathological types. The age-adjusted incidence rates of primary spinal cord ependymoma was 0.18 per 100,000. The incidence rate for females was significantly lower than that for males. The incidence rate was highest in Caucasian. The incidence rate of ependymoma was significantly higher than that of other pathological types. The incidence of astrocytoma was highest among people aged 0-19 years, the incidence of ependymoma was highest among people aged 40-59 years, and the incidence of lymphoma was highest among people aged 60 years or older. The 5-year observed survival and relative survival rates for the whole cohort were 82.80% and 86.00%, respectively. Patients diagnosed with ependymoma had significantly better survival than their counterparts. We also found the impact of surgery and chemotherapy on the prognosis of patients with different tumors varies a lot.

We conducted a population-based analysis of malignant and borderline malignant primary spinal cord tumors with the aim of revealing the epidemiology and survival of patients with primary intramedullary spinal cord tumors. Despite some shortcomings, this study provides valuable information to help us better understand the epidemiological characteristics of primary intramedullary spinal cord tumors.