Introduction
In spinal tumors treatment, the surgical intervention aims towards decompression, either by direct removal of metastatic tissue or indirectly by palliative posterior laminectomy. These operations can be usually performed without any major bleeding problem. After meta-analysis of 18 papers, Chen et al. reported average estimated perioperative blood loss to be 2180 ml [1].
Currently, there is no consensus about how to reduce the intraoperative risk of hemorrhage in spinal decompression surgery of hypervascular spinal tumors, such as aggressive hemangioma, multiple myeloma, plasmacytoma, metastasis of renal cell carcinoma. Major intraoperative blood loss in spine surgery is associated with an increased risk for surgical site infection [2,3] and it also causes multiple end organ damage including spinal cord ischemia, thus, potentially is associated with poor surgical outcome [4].
Hypotensive anesthesia, careful tissue handling, hemostasis during surgery, and minimizing operative duration can help control blood loss. Measures routinely used to minimise blood loss include the assessment and correction of coagulopathy; the use of antifibrinolytic drugs, such as tranexamic acid; prevention of hypothermia; intraoperative ligation of feeding vessels; the use of bipolar electrocautery [1,5].
The diagnosis of spinal tumors may represent an advanced stage of disease and patients undergoing surgery for a spinal tumor are often elderly, with compromised cardiovascular status, impaired immune system and poor physiological reserves, all of which render them more susceptible to the complications of intraoperative blood loss and transfusion [1,6].
Treatment of hypervascular spine tumors is challenging as surgeons may experience profuse intraoperative bleeding which is difficult to control [7]. Intraoperative hemorrhage can be sometimes massive in patients with hypervascular spinal tumors, especially in radical resection such as total en bloc spondylectomy [8].
The use of selective arterial embolization to treat bone tumors was first described in 1975 by Feldman et al [9]. Several case series have described the technical aspects of vertebral tumor embolization and suggested benefits of preoperative embolization on decreasing perioperative blood loss [10–13]. However, it is doubted that embolization has no alternatives.
The use of local agents to achieve hemostasis is an old and complex subject in surgery and active used in neurosurgery since early 20th century [14,15]. Although many new materials are presented each year, the best hemostatic agents have been the same for several decades. When applied topically, these agents can effectively control diffuse intraoperative bleeding. However, the appropriate use of haemostats requires a certain understanding of their advantages, limitations and the nature of complications associated with their application [16–18].
Therefore, the purpose of our research was to compare the effectiveness of using different methods in reducing blood loss.