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The ultimate goal when treating dangerous benign or cancerous tumors on or in the cervical (upper), thoracic (mid), lumbar (lower), and sacrum spine is tumor debulking and decompression of the neurologic elements (spinal cord or spinal nerves). Depending upon your health and the location of the tumor on the spine, your doctor may recommend back surgery or minimally invasive spine surgery as a potential treatment option. Spinal surgery, however, is not suited for everyone. Depending upon the tumor’s type, location, and rate of growth, one of the following actions may be used as a method of treatment. As the complications of a spinal tumor are grave, it is important that you seek immediate medical attention should you present spine tumor symptoms. Even if the symptoms of a spine tumor are not yet apparent, prompt evaluation and action is imperative to the preservation of neurologic function and patient quality of life.
Cervical, Thoracic, Lumbar, and Sacrum Spine Tumor Treatment Options:
Observation: If you have been diagnosed with small, non-cancerous tumors that are non-aggressive and do not pose an immediate risk of spinal column and nerve compression, careful monitoring may be the only treatment needed. To assess the tumor’s growth over time, periodic scans are recommended.
Radiation & Chemotherapy: Radiation is a preferred treatment option when a tumor has metastasized (spread) from another location in the body. Radiation may also be used if a tumor is inoperable. What’s more, radiation therapy is a common action before and after a spine tumor surgery to reduce the growth’s size, as well as to eradicate any inoperable remnants. Chemotherapy may also be an option for tumors of the cervical, thoracic, lumbar, or sacrum spine, but it may be used as part of a multidisciplinary approach to care if the malignant spinal tumor’s growth is aggressive and has metastasized to the spine from the breast, kidney, lungs, or prostate.
Surgery: If a tumor can be removed surgically without the risk of extensive nerve damage, minimally invasive spine surgery can be used to relieve or reduce persistent pain and/or neurological dysfunction. If the cancerous or benign growth has caused spinal instability, surgical options may also be explored—like spinal fusion—to restore spine stabilization.
Drugs & Medication: Medication is often used as part of a multidisciplinary treatment approach to combat the symptoms of a spinal tumor, such as severe back and spinal pain. To counter the effects of radiation, chemotherapy, and spine surgery, corticosteroids or opioids are prescribed to lessen inflammation and pain.
To learn more about spine tumor treatment, contact the specialists at University Spine Associates. |
