title: Diagnosis and staging of spine tumors.
abstract: Persistent axial pain with or without neurologic changes should prompt workup for a possible tumor of the spine. Metastatic disease is more predominant than primary tumors, but still needs adequate evaluation before any management. The various steps of evaluation, diagnosis, and staging are reviewed.
authors.affiliation: Spine and Orthopaedic Oncology, 5700 Telegraph Avenue, Suite 100, Oakland, CA 94609, USA. rdmd@inc.gmail.com
authors.forename: Rakesh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Donthineni
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D013120:Spinal Cord Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary / Q000601:surgery