Surgical Treatment Outcomes in Metastatic Tumours Located at the Craniocervical Junction

Ortopedia, traumatologia, rehabilitacja
Piotr BiegaTomasz Pitera

Abstract

Cancer metastases to the upper section of the cervical spine are found in a low percentage of patients. Their conservative treatment consists in radio- and chemotherapy as well as immobilisation in an orthopaedic collar. Surgery is the treatment of choice in patients with lesions causing spinal instability or compressing neural structures. The aim of this study was to assess the outcomes of surgical treatment conducted in patients with metastases located in the upper section of the cervical spine. The study analysed the medical records of 20 patients who underwent surgical treatment at the Department of Oncological Orthopaedics in Brzozów in 2015-2016. The majority of the patients were female (75%). The mean age of the male patients was 58 years and that of the female patients was 68 years. The most common complaints were pain (90%) and neurological deficits (50%; mainly Frankel Grade C). The most common primary tumour was breast cancer (35%). 58% of the patients had slow-growing tumours according to the Tomita system. Surgical procedures lasted a mean of 117 minutes and involved fixation of a mean of 7.5 levels. The treatment reduced the patients' VAS score for pain by 3.89 points, improved function (Karnofsky scale) by 18 poi...Continue Reading

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