Angelini Andrea, D'Amico Alberto, Paolilli Stefania, Signori Riccardo, Baldin Giovanni, Di Rubbo Giuseppe, Denaro Luca, Ruggieri Pietro
Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology and Oncological Orthopedics, University of Padova, Via Giustiniani, 35128 Padova, Italy.
Academic Neurosurgery Department of Neurosciences, University of Padova, 35128 Padova, Italy.
Diagnostics (Basel). 2024 Apr 30;14(9):936. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics14090936.
Metastases are complications of primary tumors due to prolonged cancer survival and have become an important issue for oncological patients and the most frequent cause of death and disability. Bone metastases occur at a later stage of cancer disease, and the spine is the most frequent site. To date, the aim of the treatment of metastases remains to be the control of disease and provide a satisfactory quality of life. The decision making of treatment is influenced by several factors such as the status of the primary disease, the number of metastases, site involvement, and the performance status of the patients. For this reason, the treatment of metastases is challenging and undergoes constant development. Therefore, alternative techniques with respect to surgery, which is the first option but not always practicable, and radiochemotherapy are attractive. Lately, electrochemotherapy has emerged as an innovative method for treating various primary and metastatic solid tumors, showing promising outcomes in terms of inducing tumor tissue necrosis and alleviating symptoms. This technique uses electric pulses to increase the uptake of chemotherapy by tumor cells. Despite the initial enthusiasm and good results in the treatment of bone tumors, relatively few papers have described its use in spine metastases. Therefore, we conducted a systemic review of this intriguing topic while also reporting our experience in the use of electrochemotherapy for the treatment of spine metastases.
转移是原发性肿瘤因癌症生存期延长而引发的并发症，已成为肿瘤患者面临的一个重要问题，也是死亡和致残的最常见原因。骨转移发生在癌症疾病的晚期，脊柱是最常见的部位。迄今为止，转移瘤的治疗目标仍然是控制疾病并提供令人满意的生活质量。治疗决策受到多种因素的影响，如原发疾病的状况、转移灶的数量、受累部位以及患者的体能状态。因此，转移瘤的治疗具有挑战性且不断发展。所以，相对于手术（这是首选但并非总是可行）和放化疗而言，替代技术颇具吸引力。最近，电化学疗法已成为一种治疗各种原发性和转移性实体肿瘤的创新方法，在诱导肿瘤组织坏死和缓解症状方面显示出有前景的结果。该技术利用电脉冲来增加肿瘤细胞对化疗药物的摄取。尽管最初对其治疗骨肿瘤充满热情且取得了良好效果，但相对较少的论文描述了其在脊柱转移瘤中的应用。因此，我们对这个有趣的主题进行了系统综述，同时也报告了我们使用电化学疗法治疗脊柱转移瘤的经验。
