Penn Medicine's Abramson Cancer Center offers different treatment options for spinal cord and spinal column tumors. Some treatments are called standard and others are being tested in clinical trials. Standard treatments are those that are currently used and are known to be the best and most effective. A treatment clinical trial is a study meant to help improve current treatments or obtain information on new treatments. When clinical trials show that a new treatment is better than the standard treatment, the new treatment may become the standard treatment. If you have been diagnosed with a spinal cord tumor, you may want to think about taking part in a clinical trial. Some clinical trials are open only to patients who have not started treatment, while others are available during or after treatment.
Treatment options vary depending on your situation. Talk with your team about the approach that is best for you.
Standard Treatments for Patients with Spinal Tumors
The Abramson Cancer Center offers the latest standard treatments for spinal cord and spinal column tumors.
Surgical Removal
Depending on your specific tumor, surgery may be the most effective and best treatment option. Surgical removal (or resection) would be used to remove the entire tumor, if possible. Some tumors are treated pre-operatively with radiation and/or chemotherapy to help shrink the tumor to make it easier to remove. Other tumor types may require radiation or chemotherapy after surgery to kill any remaining cancer cells.
Radiation Therapy
Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays or other forms of radiation to kill cancer cells, keep them from growing further or shrink a tumor prior to surgery.
- External Beam Radiation Therapy: Radiation using photons is focused precisely by specialized equipment to treat the tumor.
- Proton Therapy: External beam radiotherapy that works by aiming energized particles, in this case protons, onto the target tumor. Because of the accuracy of the beam, proton therapy delivers a higher dose of treatment directly to the tumor, while sparing healthy tissue.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is the use of chemical agents to destroy cancer cells and has become a mainstay in the treatment of malignant tumors. In addition to destroying cancer cells in the bloodstream or other areas of the body, it can also decrease the size of the spinal tumor. The major advantage of chemotherapy is its ability to treat widespread or metastatic cancer, whereas surgery and radiation therapy are limited to treating cancers that are confined to specific areas.
Trans-Oral Robotic (TORS)
TORS is the world's first group of minimally invasive robotic surgery techniques, invented at Penn, to remove benign and malignant spinal tumors from behind the mouth and throat.
Penn performed the world’s first ever robot assisted spine surgery to remove a tumor.
Clinical Trials
Penn Medicine is on the forefront of revolutionary treatment for spinal tumors. It is possible that you may be qualified to enroll in a clinical trial through the Abramson Cancer Center.
Ask your physician if you may qualify.