Contemporary surgical strategies for spinal metastasis; case closed?

Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) approaches for degenerative spinal conditions are commonplace, but its application in spinal oncology is still in its early stages (1-5). Miscusi et al. compared open to minimally invasive approaches for thoracic metastasis causing acute myelopathy and concluded that MIS techniques are superior to open approaches with; less blood loss, operation time and bed rest length, as well as less postoperative pain and better European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ C30 scores) (6).