Long-Term Outcomes of Surgical Resection of Spinal Cord Tumors; A 26 Year Review

Spinal cord tumors comprise between 10 and 15% of all central nervous system tumors. In review of the recent literature there are several case reports but few case series. In this retrospective study, we evaluated the records of patients in whom resection of these lesions had been performed. Surgical results of 104 patients among 204 serial cases with spinal cord tumors operated from1970 to 2006 are presented. Age, sex, duration and type of symptoms, topographical locations, radiological and surgical results, histological features and outcome are analyzed and compared with other series. This study is based on the clinical data of 104 surgically treated cases among 204 serial patients visited in the senior author’s clinic. 50.0 % of the patients were male. The average age of our patients was 37.1 y (range: 4-75 y). The most common tumor locations was the thoracic region (30.8%), followed by cervical (27.9%). In 74.1% of our patients the tumor was extramedullary, while in 25.9% it was intramedullary. Among extramedullary cases, the most common histological type was nerve sheath tumors (58.4%) followed by meningioma (18.2%). In patients with intramedullary tumors the most common histological type was Astrocytoma (55.6%) followed by Ependymoma (25.9%). Gross and near total removal of the lesion was possible in 78.9% of cases. Patients were followed between 1 to 209 months (mean=29 months). In 84.6 % of patients the outcome was improved. Complications of surgery occurred in 5.8 % and the mortality was 0.9%. With the use of modern microneurosurgical techniques the surgical results in our patients were comparable with the reported results in developed countries. Determinant predictors of a good outcome after surgery for spinal cord tumors were histological type of lesion, extension of tumor and a satisfactory pre-operation neurological status