Navigation in Spinal Tumor Surgery

Spine tumors comprise a small proportion of reasons for back pain and neurological symptoms originating in the spine. Most of the tumors involving the spinal column are metastases. Due to the improvements in treatment for primary tumors, the survival rate of patients with spinal metastasis is increased. However, spinal tumor surgery encompasses diverse surgical strategies regarding patients’ performance status. Previous studies demonstrated the applicability of spinal navigation in the field of oncologic surgeries, particularly for spinal stabilization, maximizing the extent of tumor resection, and avoiding injuries to neural or vascular structures. By improving spinal instrumentation accuracy, intraoperative navigation systems have evolved and progressed in the recent decade. There has been a dramatic rise in its application with the development of minimally invasive spine surgery. The rapid advance of image-guided techniques coupled and the growth in the surgery for spinal metastases make intraoperative navigation crucial for spine surgeons to comprehend its indications and limitations. Therefore, this chapter will introduce the current concepts on navigation in spinal tumor surgery.