Diagnosis, Treatment and Prevention of Spinal Tumors

How do you Diagnose Spinal Tumors?

The doctor will take your detailed medical history and ask you questions about your health, lifestyle and family medical history. Then the doctor will perform a thorough physical and neurological examination to determine which nerves have been affected.

A biopsy may be needed to diagnose the type of spinal tumor. Following radiological tests may be done to pinpoint and find out the extent of the spinal tumor.

• X-rays of the spine: X-rays are not very reliable in diagnosing tumors but they help to search for other potential causes of pain, such as fractures, joint abnormalities and infections.
• CAT scan or CT Scan: These provide more detailed information about spinal cord tumor, bones, soft tissues and organs than X rays.
• MRI: This test produces three-dimensional detailed images of body structures using a strong magnetic field and radio waves. MRI is the preferred method of examining the brain and spinal cord and tumors in the spinal column.

How can you Treat Spinal Tumors?

The Treatment of spinal tumors includes both surgical and non surgical methods.

• Nonsurgical Treatment: This includes medications such as corticosteroids to reduce the pain, swelling and pressure on the spinal cord, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Proton therapy is a newer technique which delivers high radiation doses without any damage to the nearby healthy tissue. If the spinal tumor does not respond favorably to the above treatments then surgery is advised.
• Surgical treatment: Some spinal tumors may be removed by surgery but if the entire tumor cannot be removed or has spread to other body areas, radiation therapy and other supplementary therapies may be continued after surgery.

How to Manage & Prevent Spinal Tumors?

Since there are no known causes for spinal tumors, there is no way to protect against the spinal tumors. However avoiding exposure to radiation and general healthy habits such as eating healthy food, avoiding smoking may lower the risk in adults. The spinal tumor may be managed by:

• Medications: NSAIDs, opioids, corticosteroids may be given to reduce pain and inflammation around the spinal nerves and spinal cord. Bisphonates such as Alendronate may be given to strengthen the bones and prevent fracture. Hormonal treatments may be used for metastatic spinal tumors such as breast and prostate cancer which are sensitive to hormones
• Braces: These are used along with medications when the pain is due to spinal instability
• Radiation: This therapy is often used to shrink spinal tumors
• Ablation: This procedure is designed to destroy the spinal tumor while not harming the healthy tissue
• Chemotherapy: This method treats spinal cancer using cytotoxic drugs. It may also be used to kill remaining tumor cells after surgery.

References:

1. Tumors of the spine - (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4757655/)
2. Pediatric tumors of the spine - (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2797470/)
3. AANS Patients Neurosurgical Conditions and Treatments - Spinal Tumors - (https://www.aans.org/Patients/Neurosurgical-Conditions-and-Treatments/Spinal-Tumors)
4. American Cancer Society-What Are Adult Brain and Spinal Cord Tumors? - (https://www.cancer.org/cancer/brain-spinal-cord-tumors-adults/about/what-are-brain-spinal-tumors.html)
5. The University of Texas- MD Anderson Cancer Center- Spinal Tumors - (https://www.mdanderson.org/cancer-types/spinal-tumors.html)
6. U.S. National Library of Medicine- Spinal tumor - (https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/001403.htm)

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