Spinal cord tumors are uncommon lesions and can lead to significant neurologic morbidity and mortality. The classification of spinal cord tumors is based on their location as intradural intramedullary, intradural extramedullary, and extradural. Ependymomas are more common among intradural intramedullary tumors, and can often be surgically resected, whereas, astrocytomas infiltrate the spinal cord and show unclear marginality between the tumor and spinal cord. Complete surgical resection is obtained rarely. Intradural extramedullary tumors include schwannomas, neurofibromas, and meningiomas. These types are relatively curable with surgical resection than intradural intramedullary tumors. Radiotherapy is applied for malignant variants and recurrent tumors, whereas chemotherapy is usually recommended for recurrent lesions which are not effective with surgery or radiotherapy.
Preoperative neurological status, histologic grade of the tumor, and the extent of surgical resection result in different outcomes.
