Instrumentation surgery for primary tumors of the spine.

We performed instrumentation surgery on ten patients with the following rare primary spinal tumors; three solitary plasmacytomas, an aneurysmal bone cyst, a chordoma, a giant-cell tumor, a hemangioma, a solitary bone cyst, a benign osteoblastoma, and a chondrosarcoma. These tumors were found in the cervical spine (one case), thoracic spine (five cases), lumbar spine (two cases), and sacrum (two cases). The patients consisted of five men and five women, and their average age was 43.1 years. Harrington instrumentation was used in six cases, Zielke instrumentation in two, a combination of both in one case, and a Kirshner wire in one. In two cases, iliolumbar fusion was performed with Harrington instrumentation, after total resection of the sacrum. Average duration of the follow-up period was 5 years. This report describes these rare cases and emphasizes the effectiveness of instrumentation surgery in the reconstruction of the spine after extensive surgery.