Beware of Spinal Tumours

If you have a tumour in your spine, you need to get it checked as soon as possible. Mostly spinal tumours are classified by their location, whether it’s situated inside or outside the dura mater, medulla or the substance of the cord. These different types of tumours are treated differently.

Types of tumours

• Vertebral column tumours: Any tumour involving the bones in the vertebral column is termed this. Maximum vertebral column tumours are seen to be metastatic, which means the tumour originally grew on some other organ and spread to the vertebral column, most often through the bloodstream.

• Intradural-Extramedullary tumours: The tumours which are found to be inside the dura but outside the medulla are called this. They can sometimes get very large in size and might get attached to many nerves, which results in its total removal becoming pretty tough.

• Intramedullary tumours- They are situated inside the medulla or the substance of spinal cord. Most of the times these tumours are found in the spinal cord present in the neck region and are usually benign.

Symptoms

The tumour most often causes pain at the tumour site such as the neck or back. Neurological problems like numbness and weakness of the limbs can also indicate a tumour. Any change in the regular bowel or bladder habits might also be caused by a tumour.

Diagnosis

A complete evaluation with your doctor will let you know if you have a tumour or not. A radiographic study of the spine ultimately confirms whether the patient has the tumour. MRIs are capable of scanning the spinal cord better, while a CT scan can reveal the tumours in the vertebral column better.

Treatment

Most often radio therapy is used to treat some of the tumours. Otherwise if possible the entire tumour is extracted and removed from the spine.