The use of the Baumber scoring system for metastatic disease of the vertebral column

Abstract

Abstract Objective The prognostic assessment of patients with metastatic spinal disease is predominantly tumour rather than patient based. Baumber et al have published a prognostic scoring system based on the patient rather than the tumour for metastatic disease of the appendicular skeleton. This paper assesses that formula for metastatic disease of the spine. Results Survival was recorded for 65 individuals who underwent surgery for metastatic disease of the spine. Using the same parameters as Baumber, the projected survival was longer than that recorded in their cohort (over-prediction of 39% at 6 months and 54% at 12 months). The relative contributions of the individual parameters as part of the overall survival was different between the groups with a greater contribution seen if the individual had hyponatraemia, hypoalbuminaemia and low levels of creatinine. The reasons for the differences seen between the spinal and appendicular groups with regards to these parameters are not clear but may represent a poorer level of general health. Further work is required to develop a specific tool for the calculation of prognosis in a metastatic spinal cohort using a general health perspective.