Health-Related Quality of Life After Spine Surgery for Primary Bone Tumour.

opinion statementTreatment of primary bone tumours (PBT) of the spine is complex, often involving numerous surgical and oncology disciplines. Surgical en bloc resection with oncologically appropriate margins is the modality of choice when treating malignant PBT. En bloc resection with wide or marginal margins appears to offer better local and systemic control of the disease. This type of surgical resection can also be considered when treating benign aggressive tumours such as aneurysmal bone cyst, giant cell tumour and osteoblastoma. Although these surgeries respect oncologic principles, significant morbidity and mortality are associated. Adverse event collection is highly variable in the literature and mostly from retrospective studies. Wound complication, neurologic deficit and significant blood loss are encountered with surgical resection of PBT of the mobile spine and especially, the sacrum. The adverse event profile of these surgeries is high even in experienced quaternary referral centres. Therefore, primary spinal tumour resection is best performed in experienced centre with adequate multidisciplinary support. Furthermore, prospective and systematic adverse event data collection should be developed to ensure accurate data. The impact of such extensive and potentially impairment producing procedures on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is another critically valuable piece of information in the era of shared treatment decision making. At the present time, there is paucity of published data regarding HRQOL following these surgeries. Nonetheless, in theory, it seems that health-related quality of life after surgery for PBT is acceptable given the curative intent of the treatment. However, a decision-making process should be tailored to each patient and his or her expectations. Comprehensive discussions should be held preoperatively with the patient, family and other related allied health professionals if the informed consent and decision-making process is to be optimal.