Spinal Tumours

Spinal tumours may affect your spinal cord, nerve roots, blood vessels or bones of your spine. Signs and symptoms may include:

• Pain at the site of the tumour due to tumour growth
• Back pain, often radiating to other parts of your body
• Feeling less sensitive to pain, heat and cold
• Loss of bowel or bladder function
• Difficulty walking, sometimes leading to falls
• Loss of sensation or muscle weakness, especially in your arms or legs

Early diagnosis and treatment are vital for spinal tumours. Please see Dr Shiva about your back pain if:

• It is persistent and progressive
• It is not activity related
• It gets worse at night
• You have a history of cancer and develop new back pain
• You have other symptoms of cancer, such as nausea, vomiting or dizziness

Seek immediate medical attention if you experience the following:

• Progressive muscle weakness or numbness in your legs or arms
• Changes in bowel or bladder function

Anyone can get a spinal tumour, but it is more likely to develop in people with cancer, especially lung, breast and prostate cancers. These are considered metastatic or secondary spinal tumours.

Primary spinal tumours are rare but are more likely to occur in adults over the age of 65. Scientists are not sure of the cause of most primary spinal tumours. There may be a genetic component. Spinal cord lymphomas (cancers that affect a type of immune cell) are more common in people with weakened immune systems.

As primary spinal tumours often have no symptoms, doctors often find them incidentally when a person has an imaging test for another reason.

Dr Shiva will ask about your symptoms and medical history. He will also perform a neurological examination to check for the following symptoms:

• Tenderness in your spine
• Loss of pain or temperature sensation
• Abnormal reflexes
• Muscle weakness

Dr Shiva may also order several tests to confirm the presence of a spinal tumour, including an x-ray, MRI, CT scan, biopsy, bone scan or blood tests.

The goal of spinal tumour treatment is to eliminate the tumour. The risk of permanent damage to the spinal cord and surrounding nerves can complicate this. Dr Shiva will also take into account your age and overall health.

Treatment options for most spinal tumours include:

• If small tumours are not growing or pressing on surrounding tissues, monitoring them may be all that is needed.
• Dr Shiva will likely recommend periodic CT or MRI scans to observe the tumour.
• Surgery is often the treatment of choice for tumours that can be removed with an acceptable risk of spinal cord or nerve injury damage.

When the tumour cannot be removed completely, surgery may be followed by radiation therapy, chemotherapy, or both.

Recovery from spinal surgery may take weeks or longer, depending on the procedure. You may experience a temporary loss of sensation or other complications, including bleeding and damage to nerve tissue.

Postoperative care

• No lifting more than 5kg, no bending or twisting for six weeks
• No driving for two weeks
• Keep the wound dry for five days. You can get wet in the shower, but pat the area dry rather than rub.
• GP review postoperatively for wound review on day seven
• Monitor for any wound redness, discharge or fevers
• Monitor for new symptoms, including worsening back or neck pain, arm or leg pain, pins and needles or numbness
• Six-week review with Dr Shiva