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Complications in Surgical Management of Cervical Spinal Metastases

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Pitfalls in Cervical Spine Surgery

Bone is the third most frequent metastatic site. The vertebral column is the most common site for bone metastases, with an incidence of 30–70% in patients with stage IV cancer [1]. Among patients with cancer, in 12–20%, the initial clinical presentation is spinal column metastases [2]. Furthermore, metastases are the most frequent spinal column cancer in the United States, with approximately 18,000 new cases diagnosed annually. Multiple lesions at noncontiguous levels occur in 10–40% of the cases. Breast, lung, and prostate cancers have been the most common malignancies with secondary spine involvement [3]. These are followed by renal cancer, gastrointestinal cancer, thyroid cancer, sarcoma, and the lympophoreticular malig-nances: lymphoma and multiple myeloma. Metastases from prostate cancer, breast cancer, melanoma, and lung cancer commonly cause spinal metastases in 90.5, 74.3, 54.5, and 44.9% of patients, respectively.

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Tonini, G., Vincenzi, B., Spoto, C., Santini, D. (2010). Complications in Surgical Management of Cervical Spinal Metastases. In: Denaro, L., D'Avella, D., Denaro, V. (eds) Pitfalls in Cervical Spine Surgery. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-85019-9_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-85019-9_3

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

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