CASE 19: Kidney cancer metastasis to the lumbar spine

• 55-year-old male patient
• A patient undergoing treatment for kidney cancer (renal cell carcinoma) presented to us with complaints of severe lower back/leg pain, numbness and weakness in the legs, and significant difficulty walking.
• The patient underwent successful surgery to reconstruct the cavity created after corpectomy (removal of the tumorous vertebra) due to a severe compression fracture and spinal cord compression caused by lumbar spine metastasis, and to strengthen the upper and lower vertebrae by screwing (posterior instrumentation).
• The patient, whose symptoms decreased, was able to walk again after the surgery and was discharged without any problems, and was referred to radiation oncology for radiotherapy in the second week after the surgery.

Before the surgery: MRI and CT scans show a metastatic tumor that has protruded outwards, causing significant damage and fracture in the L1 vertebra and pressing on the spinal cord.

Post-Surgery: The procedure involves freeing the spinal cord through laminectomy, then removing the fractured vertebra along with the surrounding tumor tissue, replacing it with a titanium cage, and strengthening the upper and lower vertebrae with screw fixation.