Clinical profile, management and surgical outcome of spinal cord tumors

Abstract

Background: Spinal cord tumors can result in dramatic neurological and functional disabilities in the patients. We aimed to know the incidence of different types of spinal tumors and correlation between clinical presentation and pathological findings and compare outcomes of these tumors postoperatively.Methods: A total of 50 patients were included in the study group. After a thorough clinical evaluation, patients were subjected to a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and then surgery. They were described on the basis of age, sex, location of the tumor, type of the tumor, symptoms, histopathological type, surgical resection and complications.Results: Study included 29 males and 21 females and their age ranged from 5 years to 70 years. Out of the 50 patients, 39 had intradural and 11 had extradural spinal tumors. Amongst the 39 intradural tumors, 27 were extramedullary and 12 were intramedullary in location. A predilection towards the thoracic region (44%) was seen followed by the cervical cord. The tumors were excised completely in 68% of the patients while subtotal resection was done in 18% and near total resection in 14% patients. There was significant drop in VAS score and improvement in McCormicks score at 3 months of follow up.Conclusions: Based on this study it could be suggested that surgical excision and decompression should be attempted in all patients of intradural spinal tumor fit to undergo the procedure, as it not only helps in reaching a definitive histopathological diagnosis but also achieves neurological improvement in most patients without causing significant morbidity and mortality.