The spine is the most common site of bone metastases from malignant tumors, with metastatic epidural spinal cord compression occurring in about 10% of patients with spinal metastases. Palliative radiotherapy and simple laminectomy and decompression have been the main treatments for metastatic spinal cord compression. The former is ineffective and delayed for radiation-insensitive tumors, and the latter often impairs spinal stability. With the continuous improvement of surgical techniques and instrumentation in recent years, the treatment model of spinal metastases has changed a lot. Decompression surgery underwent open decompression, separation surgery, minimally invasive surgery and laser interintermal thermal ablation decompression. However, no matter what kind of surgical plan is adopted, it should be assessed precisely according to the specific situation of the patient to minimize the risk of surgery as far as possible to ensure the smooth follow-up radiotherapy. This paper reviews the research progress of decompression for spinal metastases.
Keywords: Decompression; Epidural spinal cord compression; Review; Spinal metastases.