The role of minimally invasive spine surgery in the treatment of vertebral metastasis: A narrative review.

BACKGROUND:Spinal metastases are a very common problem which dramatically affects the quality of life of cancer patients. The objective of this review is to address the issue of how minimally invasive surgery can play an important role in treating this pathology. METHODS:A literature review was performed, searching in the Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus and Cochrane databases. Relevant and quality papers published within the last 10 years were included in the review. RESULTS:After screening the 2184 initially identified registers, a total of 24 articles were included for review. CONCLUSION:Minimally invasive spine surgery is specially convenient for fragile cancer patients with spinal metastases, because of its reduced comorbidity compared to conventional open surgery. Technological advances in surgery, such as navigation and robotics, improve accuracy and safety in this technique.