Within the tumoural diseases of the spinal column there must be a differentiation with that associated with the bony structure: metastasis, haemangiomas, etc. and those associated with neurological tissue: meningiomas, neuromas, ependymomas…
This pathology must be assessed from two points of view, the neurological situation these tumours could cause with progressive neurological deficits and evaluation of possible spinal instability, of special important in cases of lesions affecting the vertebrae.
Depending of the location of the lesion, the deficits may affect all four limbs, in the case of cervical lesions or only affect the lower extremities when the lesion is located at a dorsal or lumbar level.
The most frequent lesions are those affecting vertebrae, metastasis in the majority of the cases, bone tumours that originate in the vertebrae are much less frequent. The majority of intradural tumours are extramedullary, meningiomas and neuromas in almost all cases. Intramedullary tumours constitute 10% of all spinal cord tumours (astrocytomas and ependymomas in the majority of cases).
