Spinal Cord Tumors

A tumor in the spinal cord can be non-cancerous or a cancerous one. It is in the form of growth in or around the spinal cord. The spinal constitutes bundle of nerves that are responsible for transmitting the messages from the body to the brain. The spinal cord in firmly encased in the bone and any kind of tumor that grows on or near it can easily compress the nerves; this in turn interferes with the smooth communication of body with the brain. It has been noted that the tumor of the spinal cord are less prevalent than the tumors of the brain.

One can differentiate the spinal cord tumor as primary or the secondary one. It has been observed that the primary tumors arise from the cells; they are contained within or near the spinal cord. Only 10% of such tumors originate within the spinal cord, while 90% of them originate near the spinal cord.

Secondary type of spinal cord tumors is more common. They are metastases of other kind of cancer which result from the other body part, they are usually cancerous. These metastases can spread to the vertebrae and are due to cancer of the lungs, breast, thyroid glands, prostrate glands and kidney.

Some of the most common kind of spinal cord tumors is the hemangioblastomas, Ependymomas and the astrocytomas. Apart from this there is other kind of spinal cord tumors also known as intradural-extramedullary tumors. Such kind of tumors is found in the Dura also known as the covering of the spinal cord. They are found outside the substance that is found in the spinal cord. The tumors of this kind of condition are meningiomas and neurofibromas.

There is a third kind of tumor which is primarily bone tumor. Such tumors are uncommon and under very rare cases require surgical intervention. They are chordomas, aneurismal bone cysts, osteoblastomas, vertebral hemangiomas and osteoid osteomas.