Clinical profile of long-term survivors of breast or thyroid cancer with metastatic spinal tumours.

Patients with breast or thyroid cancer with metastatic spinal tumours are expected to survive relatively longer than patients with other cancers with metastatic spinal tumours. The purpose of this study was to determine the clinical characteristics of long-term survivors of breast or thyroid cancer with metastatic spinal tumours. We studied the clinical profile of long-term survivors by comparing the characteristics of nine patients who had survived for at least 5 years after a spinal operation with the characteristics of 16 patients who had not. Our results showed that the longer the time from the diagnosis of the primary cancer to the spinal operation, the longer patients with breast or thyroid cancer and metastatic spinal tumours would survive. Six of the eight patients (75.0%) who had undergone the spinal operation at least 5 years after the diagnosis of the primary cancer survived especially long. In conclusion, the duration from the diagnosis of the primary cancer to the spinal operation is very useful for predicting a prognosis in patients with breast or thyroid cancer and metastatic spinal tumours.