Retrospective Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Jul 16, 2021; 9(20): 5470-5478
Published online Jul 16, 2021. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i20.5470
Prognostic factors and its predictive value in patients with metastatic spinal cancer
Qing-Peng Gao, Da-Zhi Yang, Zheng-Bin Yuan, Yu-Xia Guo
Qing-Peng Gao, Department of Spine Surgery, The Second Clinical Medical College of Jinan University, Shenzhen 518020, Guangdong Province, China
Da-Zhi Yang, Zheng-Bin Yuan, Department of Spine Surgery, Shenzhen People’s Hospital, 2nd Clinical Medical College of Jinan University, Shenzhen 518020, Guangdong Province, China
Yu-Xia Guo, Department of Gynecology, Shenzhen People’s Hospital, 2nd Clinical Medical College of Jinan University, Shenzhen 518020, Guangdong Province, China
Author contributions: Gao QP, Yang DZ, Yuan ZB, and Guo YX contributed to the writing and revising of the manuscript; and all authors proofed and confirmed the revised manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Shenzhen People’s Hospital Institutional Review Board.
Informed consent statement: Patients were not required to give informed consent to the study because the analysis used anonymous clinical data that were obtained after each patient agreed to treatment by written consent.
Conflict-of-interest statement: This is no conflict of interest.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Yu-Xia Guo, MD, Associate Chief Physician, Department of Gynecology, Shenzhen People’s Hospital, 2nd Clinical Medical College of Jinan University, No. 1017 Dongmen North Road, Luohu District, Shenzhen 518020, Guangdong Province, China. yxguomedicine@163.com
Received: April 1, 2021
Peer-review started: April 1, 2021
First decision: April 13, 2021
Revised: April 25, 2021
Accepted: April 26, 2021
Article in press: April 26, 2021
Published online: July 16, 2021
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Spinal metastasis is common in patients with cancer. The optimal treatment for metastatic spine tumors should be selected based on prognostic predictions.

Research motivation

In order to find influential factors that guide treatment decision making, the study examined spinal cord injury function, the incidence of metastatic spinal cord compression (MSCC), spinal instability neoplastic score (SINS), survival and factors associated with prognosis in patients with metastatic spinal cancer.

Research objectives

To examine the factors for predicting the prognoses and its predictive value in patients with metastatic spinal cancer.

Research methods

A study was performed involving 109 patients with metastatic spinal cancer. Clinical, sociodemographic and prognostic data were extracted. They were classified into two groups: Patients with survival of 3 years or over 3 years were enrolled in a survival group and those with survival under 3 years were enrolled in a death group. The incidence of MSCC and SINS and Frankel spinal cord injury functional classification scale score and revised Tokuhashi score were compared between the two groups. The prognostic significance of factors influencing the prognosis of patients with metastatic spinal cancer was analyzed including general information, Frankel spinal cord injury functional classification scale score, SINS score and revised Tokuhashi score.

Research results

There were significant differences in outcomes of patients with metastatic spinal cancer of different age, treatment methods, number of spinal tumors, Karnofsky performance score, Frankel spinal cord injury functional classification scale score, SINS score and revised Tokuhashi score, indicating that these factors have significant effects on the prognosis of patients with metastatic spinal cancer.

Research conclusions

The detection of the above important factors may be useful for aiding the selection of appropriate treatment modalities for metastatic spinal cancer.

Research perspectives

The subjects of the current study were restricted to patients with some cancer types and patients undergoing surgical treatment. Additional clinical studies with larger sample sizes investigating extra novel factors are required to validate further these findings.