Clinical Outcome of Single-Stage Posterior Decompression and Stabilisation for Spine Metastasis

Surgical treatment for indicated spinal metastases cases is an option to improve patients' outcomes. Local data in analysing the potential of patients' improvement after surgical treatment are limited. We intend to review the clinical outcomes of surgeries performed for cancer patients who were diagnosed with spinal metastases. We aim to identify factors associated with improved spinal pain, neurological deficit and patient survival.

The medical records of 51 patients who were diagnosed with thoracolumbar spinal metastatic tumour and underwent palliative single-stage posterior approach spinal surgery between June 2015 and June 2022 were recruited retrospectively. Patient demographic data, pre-operative and post-operative pain scores, neurological assessment and survival duration were collected from the medical records. Radiological findings were studied using respective imaging and reports.

The mean age was 57.5 years, and the median survival was nine months after the surgical treatment. The post-operative pain improvements were statistically significant at two weeks (VAS improved from 5 to 2), and three months follow-up VAS was one (p<0.001 and p=0.009, respectively). At initial presentation, patients with a single-level spinal involvement had higher VAS compared to multiple spinal metastases (p=0.018). A total of 18 (35.3%) patients had improved one or more ASIA grades, of which eight (15.7%) of them had gain of ambulatory function (p<0.001). Twenty-seven (52.9%) patients were ambulatory post-operative. The slow growth type of primary carcinoma, post-operative ambulatory ability, and the absence of perioperative morbidity were factors associated with favourable survival duration (p=0.006, p<0.001 and p<0.001, respectively). Synchronous visceral metastases adversely affected the survival duration (p=0.008).

Single-stage posterior decompression and stabilisation improved the clinical outcomes of spinal pain and neurological deficit in metastatic spinal tumours. Type of primary tumour, visceral metastasis, perioperative morbidity, and post-operative ambulatory status significantly impact post-operative survival duration.