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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Indian Journal of Neurosurgery 2022; 11(02): 118-122
DOI: 10.1055/s-0041-1726609
Review Article

Analysis of Factors Influencing the Long-term Outcome in Primary Spinal Cord Tumors: Review of Literature

Authors

  • Uddanapalli Srinivasan 

    1   Department of Neurosurgery, Sri Balaji Hospital, Guindy, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

  • Natarajan Raghunathan

    2   Department of Neurosurgery, MIOT Hospitals, Manapakkam, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
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Abstract

Introduction Primary spinal cord tumors are amenable to total surgical excision but the outcomes are still diverse.

Objective The purpose of this study is to identify the significant factors which influence the long-term outcome of spinal cord tumors.

Materials and Methods A total of 84 consecutive spinal cord tumor patients who underwent microsurgical excision during April 2003 to 2014 were retrospectively studied. Patients operated after April 2014 were not considered. Ten factors were taken and correlated with the outcome. Multiple regression analysis was used. Patients were periodically evaluated at 1, 6 months, 1, 2, and 5 years. In 72 cases, postoperative MRI scans were performed. The follow-up period ranged between 5 to 15 years.

Results In our study, we had 64 extramedullary tumors and 21 intramedullary tumors with varied pathology. Axial location of the tumour (20.294/0.000), extent of the resection of the tumour (13.827/0.001), preoperative Nurick grade (11.349/0.023), and location of the tumour in the spine with respect to vertebral segments (8.151/0.017) were significant predictive factors. We had good outcomes in 65 cases and poor outcomes in 19 cases.

Conclusion Our results show location of the tumor with respect to axial plane and vertebral segments were the main contributing factors. They influence the extent of excision of the spinal cord tumor. Preoperative neurological status is the fourth factor which independently determines the long-term outcome. It is one of the few papers where patients have been followed-up for a long period ranging from 5 to 15 years.

Keywords

spinal cord tumors - extramedullary tumor - intramedullary tumor


Publication History

Article published online:
24 November 2021

© 2021. Neurological Surgeons’ Society of India. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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