Our blog

Tumours of the spine can be secondary (i.e. spread from elsewhere) or primary (i.e. tumour occurring in the spine or spinal cord/nerves itself). They can sometimes be picked up incidentally or present with a wide variety of symptoms such as persistent neck or back pain, pain shooting down the arms, chest or legs (termed radiculopathy), weakness or numbness of the arms or legs. They can sometimes be associated with loss of appetite and/or unexplained weight loss.

It is important to always maintain a high degree of suspicion in patients with a previous history of cancer as the spine is a common site for tumour spread from another site, termed metastases. As there are many considerations, it would be prudent to seek a medical consult for cases of spine tumours.