Short-term assessment of functional outcomes and quality of life after thoracic and lumbar spinal metastasis surgery.

Background: Because of improvements in initial tumor identification and treatment, as well as longer life expectancies, more people are receiving diagnoses for spinal metastases.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess early functional outcomes and quality of life (QOL) after surgical management of patients with spinal metastases.

Patients and methods: In this prospective cohort study, a total of 33 patients with thoracic and lumbar spine metastases who underwent surgical management between November 2021 and August 2023 were followed up for 1 year or until death. Oswestry Disability Index and the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status were used for the functional outcome; QOL was assessed using European Quality of Life 5-Dimensions (EuroQOL-5D). Scores were recorded preoperatively, 4 weeks postoperatively, and 6 and 12 months postoperatively.

Results: The mean age was 52.12 ± 13.4 years (range: 23-70 years), 22 (66.7%) were females, and 11 (33.3%) were males. Patients were divided into three groups according to the revised Katagiri score: 12 (36.4%) patients were at low risk (0-3), 18 (54.5%) patients were at intermediate risk (4-6), and 3 (9.1%) patients were at high risk (7-10). The mean survival was 5.44 ± 3.46 months (range 1-13), and there was no perioperative death (within 1 month postoperative). Sixteen (48.5%) patients survived for more than 1 year and 17 (51.5%) patients died from different causes related to the natural history of tumor metastasis.

Conclusion: Following surgical treatment of the spinal metastases, improvements in QoL and functional results were seen in the short-term. For patients with a projected life expectancy of longer than 3 months, surgery is a good alternative.