Abstract
Objective: This study sought to identify the prevalence of operations for spinal epidural neoplastic metastases relative to other spine and neurosurgical operative procedures. Methods: This study was descriptive and involved a retrospective review of data collected from patients who underwent neurosurgeries between February 1997 and January 2015 at a single quaternary hospital. The examined population was distributed across five descriptive categories to perform numerical distributions among neurosurgical operative procedures. Results: A total of 12,802 neurosurgical procedures were identified. These procedures were classified as follows: Skull and brain, 11,192 (87.42%); spinal column and spinal nervous tissue, 1462 (11.42%); and peripheral nerves, 148 (1.16%). Surgical procedures for the 1462 (100%) cases of spinal column and spinal nervous tissue diseases were distributed by nosology as follows: Degenerative intervertebral disk and spondylosis, 768 (52.54%); neoplastic, 279 (19.08%); traumatic, 221 (15.11%); congenital, 163 (11.14%); infectious and inflammatory, 27 (1.85%); and vascular, 4 (0.28%). With respect to the distribution of the 279 (100%) surgical procedures for spinal column and spinal nervous tissue neoplastic diseases, 124 (44.44%) procedures were for intradural neoplasms, and 155 (55.56%) procedures were for epidural spinal column neoplasms. The 155 (100%) operations for epidural neoplastic diseases were distributed into two groups: Primary epidural neoplasms, 42 (27.10%); and secondary epidural neoplasms, 113 (72.90%). Spinal column epidural neoplastic metastases (secondary neoplasms) represented 0.88% of the 12,802 neurosurgical procedures. Conclusions: Surgical procedures for spinal metastasis are uncommon with respect to all neurosurgical operative procedures. Trend analysis reveals an unchanging trend of prevalence for these procedures.
Highlights
The vertebral column is the most common site of skeletal metastases and is involved in approximately 40% of cancer-related deaths [1] [2] [3] [4]
With respect to the distribution of the 279 (100%) surgical procedures for spinal column and spinal nervous tissue neoplastic diseases, 124 (44.44%) procedures were for intradural neoplasms, and 155 (55.56%) procedures were for epidural spinal column neoplasms
Surgical procedures for spinal metastasis are uncommon with respect to all neurosurgical operative procedures
Summary
The vertebral column is the most common site of skeletal metastases and is involved in approximately 40% of cancer-related deaths [1] [2] [3] [4]. Knowledge of the descriptive prevalence of surgical operative procedures in patients who harbour spinal epidural neoplastic metastases remains lacking in the Brazilian medical literature, and this information could supplement the lack of epidemiological cancer data. Reporting the prevalence of a specific disease among a population at a given point provides an accurate measurement of the studied problem [14]. The purpose of this study is the characterization of neurosurgical operative procedures into descriptive categories, which perhaps can indicate trends and patterns in spinal epidural neoplastic metastasis for future cancer research. The objective of this study is to generate descriptive numerical distributions among patients undergoing operations for spinal epidural neoplastic metastases with respect to neurosurgical operative procedures and other surgically treated spinal column and spinal nervous tissue diseases
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