Stereotactic radiosurgery for spinal metastases: Case report and review of treatment options

The spine is the most common site for bone metastases. Spinal metastases can impact quality of life by causing severe pain, limitation of motion, and increased requirements for pain medication. Radiation therapy is a common form of treatment reserved for palliation of pain and for prevention or treatment of spinal cord compression. Newer approaches such as stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) and stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) have a more precise ability to customize the radiation dose to the target tissues adjacent to critical structures, thus increasing the local control of spinal column metastases. In this report, we examine the efficacy and possible advantages of single fraction SRS using a state-of-the-art tomotherapy machine in the treatment of a patient with spinal metastases from breast cancer. We also review the literature on treatment of spinal metastases using SRS, SBRT, and other modalities.