Analysis of surgically treated intraspinal tumors in southern Taiwan.
The medical records of 117 patients with spinal tumors who underwent surgery with pathologic confirmation from January 1999 to April 2004 at Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital were reviewed. Data from this review were compared with those obtained from the same institution 10 years earlier (covering the period 1988-1995) and from other reported series. There were 69 male and 48 female patients aged from 13 to 87 years old (mean age, 51.9). The most common pathologic findings were metastasis in 45.3% (53/117), nerve sheath tumors in 28.2% (33/117), meningiomas in 12% (14/117) and neuroepithelial tumors in 6% (7/117). The peak ages at diagnosis were 41-50 years and 61-70 years. A slight male predominance was noted for all tumors, except meningiomas. Motor weakness, even paralysis, was the major clinical presentation (64-86%), followed by sensory deficits (50%) and pain (42%). The location of tumors was most often in the thoracic (50.4%; 59/117), lumbosacral (27.4%; 32/117) and cervical spine (22.2%; 26/117) segments. Among the metastatic tumors, the lung (22.6%) and breast (15.1%) were the most common primary sites of origin, followed by unknown origin, the liver (hepatocellular carcinoma), the gastrointestinal tract and the nasopharynx (nasopharyngeal cancer).
Department of Neurosurgery, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, and Graduate Institute of Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. suyufeng2000@yahoo.com.tw
Yu-Feng
YF
Su
Ann-Shung
AS
Lieu
Chih-Lung
CL
Lin
Kung-Shing
KS
Lee
Yen-Fen
YF
Hwang
Chun-Po
CP
Yen
Chih-Zen
CZ
Chang
Joon-Khim
JK
Loh
Tzuu-Yuan
TY
Huang
Shiuh-Lin
SL
Hwang
Aij-Lie
AL
Kwan
Sheng-Long
SL
Howng
Chih-Jen
CJ
Wang
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D013120:Spinal Cord Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*