SPINAL SURGERY

SPINAL TUMOURS

A neoplasm often referred to as a tumour, is a growth of abnormal cells. Tumours can occur anywhere in the body but are rarely found in the spine or spinal cord. When they are, they tend to affect the functioning of the nervous system. Whether benign or malignant, these tumours often cause symptoms when pressing on the spinal nerves, causing pain, numbness, difficulty walking, neurological problems and in some cases, paralysis, and thus need to be surgically removed. Surgery is also advised for cancerous tumours to prevent cancer from spreading.

TYPES

• Intramedullary tumours - found in the nerves of the spinal cord.
• Intradural extramedullary tumours - these form in the covering of the spinal cord and outside the spinal cord.
• Extradural spinal tumours - these types of tumours affect the bone of the spine.
  Secondary bone cancers are tumours that form in the vertebrae as a result of spreading of cancer elsewhere.

Depending on the size, location and type of spinal tumour, the symptoms being caused and whether or not the cancer has spread, treatment for a spinal tumour may include surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy or a combination of these treatments.

TREATMENT

While Dr Setati’s role will be an integral part of your treatment, like all cancer, spinal cancer will require a multidisciplinary team of medical specialists. Non-surgical treatment is often reserved for specific types of tumours that are causing little to no symptoms, that appears to be slowly progressing. In other cases, surgery may be the first step in your treatment plan.

Due to the delicate nature of the spinal cord and the central nervous system, surgery for a spinal tumour can be challenging. Nonetheless, the goal for Dr Setati is to remove the tumour as much as possible while preserving neurological function, stabilising the spine and alleviating pain.

In most cases, the approach to surgery will depend on the location of the tumour in the spinal canal. For tumours which remain unidentified and appear to be affecting the nerve roots a posterior (back) approach will be taken, while those with at the front of the spine will require an anterior (front) approach. In some cases, for total resection of the tumour, both approaches are necessary in staged surgeries.