Spine Tumor and Spinal Surgery Specialists in India

What arespinal cord tumors?

A tumor forms when an abnormal cell proliferates to form a mass of abnormal cells. Spinal cord tumors are tumors that form on the spinal cord or in the area around it.

A spinal cord tumor may be cancerous (malignant) or noncancerous (benign). Even if benign, a tumor may cause symptoms including pain, weakness, numbness or tingling because it pushes on the spinal cord or nerves.

A spinal cord tumor may be called “primary,” which means the cancer started in the spinal cord, or “secondary,” which means the cancer started somewhere else in body and spread to the spinal cord. Most of the time, spinal cord tumors are secondary tumors. A spinal cord tumor is often a cancer of the breast, thyroid, lung, prostate, or another cancer that has extended throughout the body to reach the spine.

Spinal cord tumors are sometimes caused by a genetic disorder, like neurofibromatosis. Some people get spinal cord tumors because they were exposed to toxic chemicals that can cause cancer or have been exposed to radiation.

Types of spinaltumors

Spinal tumors are classified according to their location in the spine.

·         Extradural (vertebral) tumors. Most tumors that affect the vertebrae have spread (metastasized) to the spine from another site in the body — often the prostate, breast, lung or kidney. Although the original (primary) cancer is usually diagnosed before back problems develop, back pain may be the first symptom of disease in people with metastatic spinal tumors.

Cancerous tumors that begin in the bones of the spine are far less common. Among these are osteosarcomas (osteogenic sarcomas) and Ewing's sarcoma, a particularly aggressive tumor that affects young adults. Multiple myeloma is a cancerous disease of the bone marrow — the spongy inner part of the bone that makes blood cells. Noncancerous tumors, such as osteoid osteomas, osteoblastomas and hemangiomas, also can develop in the bones of the spine.

·         Intradural-extramedullary tumors. These tumors develop in the spinal cord's arachnoid membrane (meningiomas) and in the nerve roots that extend out from the spinal cord (schwannomas and neurofibromas). These tumors may be cancerous or noncancerous.

·         Intramedullary tumors. These tumors begin in the supporting cells within the spinal cord. Most are either astrocytomas or ependymomas. Intramedullary tumors can be either noncancerous or cancerous. In rare cases, tumors from other parts of the body can metastasize to the spinal cord itself.

Advanced Surgical Techniques for spinal tumors

If you have a metastatic spine tumor (a tumor in the spine that began elsewhere in your body), some surgical procedures can help stabilize your spine, reduce pain, prevent paralysis, and increase mobility. These procedures are not curative, but can provide local control of the cancer while allowing you to return to other treatments such as chemotherapy or radiation therapy. Commonly used palliative surgical techniques include spinal cord decompression and spinal instrumentation.

Spinal Cord Decompression

This technique, also called posterolateral laminectomy, involves removing the bony roof of the spinal canal (lamina) to relieve pressure on the spinal cord and nerve roots. Decompression also creates enough space so that high-dose radiation can be given without risking spinal cord injury.

Spinal Instrumentation

Pedicle screws and rods are surgically attached to the spine to redistribute stress on the bones and keep them aligned. This technique is usually used when a patient has significant spinal cord compression, a collapsed vertebra, or a burst fracture that cannot be repaired with kyphoplasty. When possible, our surgeons use specially designed screws to attach the rods in a less invasive technique than with open surgery.

Recovery

The typical hospital stay after surgery to remove a spinal tumor is about 5-10 days, depending on the patient's case. A required period of post-surgery physical rehabilitation may involve a stay in a physical rehabilitation hospital for a period of time.   In other cases, physical therapy may take place at an outpatient facility or at the patient's home. The total recovery time after surgery may be as short as three months or as long as one year, depending on the complexity of the surgery and the patient's overall health.

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