Corpectomy and Vertebral Body Reconstruction with Expandable Cage Placement and Osteosynthesis via the single stage Posterior Approach: a Retrospective Series of 34 Patients with Thoracic and Lumbar Spine Vertebral Body Tumors

BackgroundMetastatic disease of the spine requires a multidisciplinary and comprehensive approach to patient care, especially, for patients in a lot of pain with neurological deficit or spinal instability requiring surgical stabilization.ObjectivesThe purpose of the study is to report our experience on 34 patients who underwent spinal metastasis resection. We used a single-stage posterior approach with vertebral body reconstruction by an expandable titanium cage and a posterior instrumentation. The parameters assessed were neurologic status, OMS score, angle of sagittal deformity, and morbidity.MethodsBetween January 2011 and June 2014 we performed a monocentric consecutive case review of 34 patients with vertebral body tumor. All of them underwent a single-stage vertebrectomy with circumferential reconstruction and an arthrodesis by posterior approach.Results34 patients underwent a single stage surgery by posterior approach, including 30 thoracic lesions and 4 lumbar lesions. Pre operatively, sixteen patients presented a neurologic impairment. The mean follow-up was 13.7 months [1-32m]. No neurologic impairment was observed in the 34 cases. At the last term of follow-up, neurologic status was improved in 23 cases. OMS score was improved in 23 cases (67.6 %), and worsened in one case. Before surgery, the average of visual analogic scale was 8.94/10 [7-10] and decreased to 2.62/10 [1-5] after surgery. Single posterior approach surgery significantly reduced the average sagittal deformity to 10.0° (0.01–19.96; P = 0.013, Mann-Whitney test).ConclusionOur outcomes suggest that it will be more efficient to perform an aggressive approach in spinal metastatic treatment in order to improve quality of life.