Spine surgery may be recommended to treat spinal tumor.  This important decision is based on many factors including the tumor type and spinal structures involved.  Some tumors are highly vascularized, meaning they have a large number of blood vessels growing into and around them.  Other types of tumors cause bone or tissue to overgrow or thicken.  Spinal tumor can cause lysis, a term that means the destruction and collapse of bone.

Is Surgery Always Recommended?

Sometimes surgery is recommended and may be followed by one or more non-surgical therapies.  Unrelenting pain, spinal instability, nerve compression, and/or spinal cord compression may dictate a surgical need.  Your doctor will explain the possible benefits, risks, and complications of the surgical procedure he recommends. 

• Non-surgical treatment may include watching the tumor for change, radiation therapy to kill cancer cells and/or shrink the tumor, stereotactic radiosurgery (high powered precisely focused x-ray), chemotherapy drugs, anti-inflammatory medications, and pain management. 
• If a tumor is benign, observation may be the treatment of choice. The tumor will be periodically imaged to monitor its rate of growth. A tumor can lie dormant indefinitely, but can also abruptly begin to grow.

Types of Surgery

• Embolization is a procedure that involves blocking the tumor’s blood supply.  Blocking the tumor's blood supply may shrink the size of the tumor and help to destroy it.
• Tumor surgery often involves removing the entire tumor or as much of it as possible.  This procedure is termed debulking.  Removing all or part of a spine tumor may involve removing bone or tissue around the tumor.
• Vertebroplasty is a minimally invasive procedure.  Special instruments are used to access the spine and inject bone cement into the vertebral body where a tumor was removed.  The cement fills the empty space and stabilizes the spine. 
• Spine devices such as cages and bone graft are implanted to fill the empty space and stabilize the spine.  Rods, screws, and plates are other types of spinal instrumentation that may be implanted to further stabilize a weakened spine.

Considerations and Options

Treatment of malignant (cancerous) spinal tumors depends largely on the patient's health.  As with most cancers, better outcomes are usually associated with early diagnosis. If the patient is generally healthy, and/or other cancers are in remission, more aggressive treatments can be used. If a patient is weakened or already undergoing cancer treatment, the spinal tumor will be treated to the extent of trying to relieve pain and make the patient more comfortable. If surgery is not an option, a pain pump, neural stimulator, or other pain-relieving options may be used.

Benign or malignant, your Piedmont Spine Center doctor will provide a reliable and evidence-based diagnosis and trustworthy care --- non-operative or surgical.  We welcome your questions and completely understand that information empowers patients like you to make informed and wise decisions about health care.