Minimally invasive treatments for metastatic tumors of the spine

Minimally invasive treatments for spine tumors have gained popularity recently because they reduce recovery times, morbidity, and mortality and often provide cosmetic benefits to patients. Advances in minimally invasive spine surgery have been well documented. This article focuses on the latest methods of diagnosis and advances for the minimally invasive treatment of metastatic spine tumors. Metastatic spinal lesions can now be definitively diagnosed with closed, percutaneous, image-guided biopsy or image-guided fine needle aspiration. The treatment of spine tumors ranges from treatment of pain and instability using vertebroplasty/kyphoplasty, radiofrequency tumor ablation, and percutaneous pedicle screw placement to tumor resection using radiosurgery to newly developed endoscopic and minimally invasive surgical approaches.