Trial Information

Predictors of Mortality and Morbidity in the Surgical Management of Primary Tumors of the Spine: A Multi-center Retrospective Cohort Study With a Cross-Sectional Survival Check

Primary tumors of the spine are exceedingly rare and therefore the literature has been
limited to case series of limited size and significant heterogeneity. These tumors comprise
11% of all Primary Musculoskeletal Tumors and 4.2% of all spine tumors. Of all primary spine
tumors only 6% are malignant, but it is the malignant tumors that present the greatest
therapeutic challenges. Through this multi-center retrospective cohort study performed at 13
spine oncology referral, data on at least 2.000 patients with specific primary benign and
malignant spine tumors will be collected. This will provide power to determine the influence
of many previously hypothesized variables on outcome.

The purpose of this study is to determine clinical, imaging and treatment factors that
influence patient survival, local recurrence rate, and peri-operative/post-operative
morbidity. Most surgical options carry significant morbidity and consume vast resources. In
contrast, there is emerging evidence that incomplete or oncologically inappropriate
resection increases local recurrence rate and decreases overall survival. These data will be
used to refine existing study questions regarding patient outcomes and to develop new study
questions that will be assessed in the future using prospectively collected data.