Understanding Spinal Tumors

Overview / Symptoms / Treatment Options / More Info

1700 Luther Lane, Suite 1110, Park Ridge, IL 60068 / (847) 723-0100 / www.illinoisck.com

Spinal Tumors

For the more than 23,000 Americans facing a malignant spinal cord tumor diagnosis this year, choosing from multiple treatment options can be confusing and overwhelming. Illinois CyberKnife now offers a nonsurgical option called stereotactic radiosurgery to treat spine tumors.

Please note: We encourage consumers to thoroughly review and understand all treatment options. The information presented here is not all-inclusive. Rather, it represents a starting point to learn more about medical conditions and treatment options. There is no substitute for consulting a medical professional.

1700 Luther Lane, Suite 1110, Park Ridge, IL 60068 / (847) 723-0100 / www.illinoisck.com

Overview

Most spinal tumors are metastases – tumors that have spread from cancer in another part of the patient’s body, usually breast, prostate or lung cancer.

Though tumors that originate in the spine are rare, spinal tumors metastasized from cancerous tumors in other parts of the body are much more common. In cases where a patient’s cancer has spread to the spine, the primary goal in treatment is pain relief and preventing neurological deterioration.

1700 Luther Lane, Suite 1110, Park Ridge, IL 60068 / (847) 723-0100 / www.illinoisck.com

Symptoms occur when spinal tumors compress nerves or weaken the vertebral structure. Incontinence and decreased sensation in the buttocks are considered warning signs of spinal cord compression from a tumor. Back pain in patients with a known malignancy may prompt a bone scan to confirm a spinal metastasis.

Whether cancerous or noncancerous, spinal tumors can affect nearby nerves, causing pain, neurological problems and sometimes paralysis.

1700 Luther Lane, Suite 1110, Park Ridge, IL 60068 / (847) 723-0100 / www.illinoisck.com

Symptoms

What are the treatment options?Spinal metastases are typically treated using medication, surgery, conventional radiation therapy or stereotactic radiosurgery. Medication can manage pain and swelling from the tumor, but depending on the tumor’s location and size and the medical condition of the patient, further treatment may be required. For spinal tumor patients with severe spinal cord compression, or a condition known as impending vertebral collapse, doctors generally recommend open surgery followed by bone repair with metal hardware, and fusion is generally indicated.

Conventional Radiation

Stereotactic Radiosurgery

1700 Luther Lane, Suite 1110, Park Ridge, IL 60068 / (847) 723-0100 / www.illinoisck.com

Conventional Radiation

Conventional radiation therapy is the standard treatment for painful metastases affecting the spinal column.

Spine tumors present a treatment challenge because they move as a patient breathes. Conventional radiation therapy cannot account for this movement, so surrounding healthy tissue may be damaged by the radiation delivered during treatment.

Additionally, the spinal cord has a limited radiation tolerance. Therefore, the dosage amounts used with conventional radiation therapy usually limit this form of treatment to cases in which surgery isn’t feasible.

1700 Luther Lane, Suite 1110, Park Ridge, IL 60068 / (847) 723-0100 / www.illinoisck.com

Stereotactic Radiosurgery

The CyberKnife® is an advanced technology that performs stereotactic radiosurgery. With a shorter course of treatment than conventional radiation, CyberKnife treats spinal tumors aggressively with high-dose radiation that doesn’t require a rigid metal frame attached to the patient’s skeleton like other radiosurgery systems. This is made possible by an advanced imaging system that tracks the tumor location during treatment procedures.

CyberKnife avoids damaging nearby healthy spinal cord tissue and structures by targeting a tumor with sub-millimeter accuracy. This precision is achieved by combining 3D images of the tumor with live images during treatment, which allows for automatic, real-time adjustments of the CyberKnife’s radiation beams when the patient breathes.

CyberKnife can treat both benign and malignant spinal tumors.

1700 Luther Lane, Suite 1110, Park Ridge, IL 60068 / (847) 723-0100 / www.illinoisck.com

Patients diagnosed with medically inoperable tumors or with high risk of recurrence can be considered potential candidates for CyberKnife.

Patients treated for tumors in the neck or spine may need a mesh facemask or body mold made of soft material that reduces movement during CyberKnife treatment. The fitting process is painless. For lesions farther down the spinal column, doctors implant small metal markers known as fiducials into the spine that enable the CyberKnife’s precision aiming. Implanting markers requires surgery in an operating room with either general or local anesthesia, though it’s usually an outpatient procedure with minimal pain.

A CT scan is performed while patients lie on their back with the mask to keep the head and neck still. Sometimes, contrast – a special dye – is used to create better imaging. If patients are allergic to the contrast or can’t receive it for other reasons, they may get a so-called non-enhanced CT scan.

Stereotactic Radiosurgery

1700 Luther Lane, Suite 1110, Park Ridge, IL 60068 / (847) 723-0100 / www.illinoisck.com

More Info

A surgeon, radiation oncologist and medical physicist work with patients to develop their CyberKnife treatment plan. CyberKnife treats tumors in one to five procedures lasting about 90 minutes each. Because the treatment is nonsurgical, patients usually return to normal activities immediately with few to no side effects.

Occasionally, treatments are fractionated, meaning they’re spread over a few days so a larger radiation dose can be used. The physician team decides whether to fractionate based on individual cases.

1700 Luther Lane, Suite 1110, Park Ridge, IL 60068 / (847) 723-0100 / www.illinoisck.com

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Illinois CyberKnife is part of Advocate Lutheran General’s renowned Cancer Care Center, located in the Center for Advanced Care on the hospital’s campus.

Our doctors are board-certified in radiation oncology and have several areas of specialty, including head and neck cancers, prostate cancer and lung cancer.

We are dedicated to providing our patients with the latest cancer treatment technology and are proud of the experience and expertise our physicians and caring staff bring to our patients.

Medical Director: Dr. Arica HirschNeurosurgeon: Dr. George BovisCyberKnife Nurse: Linda Green, BS RN

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1700 Luther Lane, Suite 1110, Park Ridge, IL 60068 / (847) 723-0100 / www.illinoisck.com