Surgical treatment of spinal metastasis belongs to the standards of oncology. The risk of spinal cord compression represents an operative indication. Intraoperative bleeding may vary, depending on the extent of the surgical technique. Some primary tumors, such as the renal cell carcinoma, present a major risk for hemorrhage and preoperative embolisation is mandatory. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the possible benefit of embolisation in different types of primary tumors. The charts of 93 patients (42 women, 51 men, mean age 60.5 years) who were operated for spinal metastasis, 30 cases with multiple levels, were reviewed. Surgical procedures were classified as: (1) thoracolumbar laminectomy and instrumentation, (2) thoracolumbar corpectomy or vertebrectomy, (3) cervical corpectomy. A preoperative microsphere embolisation was performed in 35 patients. The following parameters, describing blood loss, were evaluated: hemoglobin variation from beginning to end of surgery, blood volume in suction during the intervention, number transfused packed red blood cells units until day 5 after surgery. A Poisson model was used for statistical evaluation.Introduction
Material and Methods
