Diseases And Conditions

Spine tumors

Spinal tumors may be benign or malignant. Malignant tumors are also referred to as cancerous, and may originate in the spine or may metastasize there from somewhere else. Benign tumors usually don’t metastasize, although they can grow, causing local damage. Spinal tumors may grow to be destructive to spinal structures. This can result in compression fractures, compression of nerves or even injury to the spinal cord itself.

Most commonly spinal tumors will affect the bony spine, resulting in severe pain. The pain may be due to the tumor itself, or associated fractures. If the nerve roots are involved, this may lead to weakness or pain in the region served by the nerve. When the spinal cord is involved this is considered an urgent condition. Involvement of the spinal cord may result in paralysis, loss of feeling and loss of bowel and bladder continence.

The most effective way to diagnose spinal tumors is by obtaining an MRI of the spine. A CT scan may be necessary to evaluate bony involvement.
If there is loss of neurologic function from spinal cord involvement, then surgery for spinal tumors may be immediately required. If a tumor has resulted in a fracture, then vertebral body augmentation or vertebroplasty may be required to stabilize the fracture. These are minimally invasive image guided procedures.

Radiation therapy may be required to shrink the tumor and will be arranged by a type of doctor called a radiation therapist. Importantly, pain may be treated by a minimally invasive procedure such as vertebroplasty, vertebral body augmentation or tumor ablation either before or after radiation therapy. While radiation will improve pain, it will require sometime whereas the relief from a minimally invasive procedure is usually immediate.