抄録
Surgical results of 15 patients suffering from vertebral metastases of breast cancer were investigated. The patients were all female whose age ranged from 29 to 72 years. Four had visceral metastases (lung in two, brain and liver in one each). Preoperatively all but one patient showed paralysis or palsy (Frankel grade B : 5, C : 5, D : 4). Preoperative pain was severe in four, moderate in nine and mild in two. The average survival period for those without metastases and followed up to more than one year (none died within one year) was 63 months and they could walk for 86% of their remaining life. The average survival period for those with visceral metastasis was 4.3 months and they could walk for only 32%. Ten patients with Frankel grade B and C preoperatively showed improvement of at least one grade, whereas, nine patients with grade D and E remained the same as before. Surgical treatments for vertebral metastases of breast cancer are effective especially for patients without visceral metastasis.
