Surgical treatment of spinal metastases

The incidence of primary cancer increases with each year, and patients are living longer as a result of improved therapies and interdisciplinary management. Consequently, long-term complications such as spinal metastases are becoming more prevalent. In this review, various surgical options, radiotherapies, vertebral augmentation procedures, and systemic therapies are described. Currently, the treatment of spinal metastases is palliative and ideally involves a multidisciplinary approach across various specialties. The potentially curative outcome of en bloc tumour resection for a solitary renal cell carcinoma metastasis and thyroid carcinoma is well known. The number of available treatments continues to grow. Only by determining the protocol of each therapy can physicians provide the optimal regimen for patients with metastatic spine disease. (author)