Osteoblastoma of the spine.

A retrograde analysis of 64 spinal osteoblastomas treated by surgery during the period 1963 - 2005 has been made. Spinal osteoblastomas were presented in 36% of all skeletal localizations. There were 44 male and 20 female patients. The average age of patients at the time of surgery was 14 years. Localizations of the osteoblastomas were cervical spine in 8 cases, dorsal spine in 16 cases, lumbar spine in 38 cases and sacrum in 2 cases. Osteoblastomas predominantly involved posterolateral vertebral elements, although in two cases a primary localization was in vertebral bodies. Neurological deficits were relatively moderate, but a paraplegia occurred in six patients. Scoliosis was present in 50% of cases, and their respective prognosis depended on the duration of the painful syndrome as well as on the age when the disease had set up. According to Enneking classification 30 patients were evaluated as stage 2 and 34 othe-rs as stage 3. Relapses were noticed in 8 (12.5%) pati-ents. Clearly delineated lesions were treated by an intralesional procedure, but aggressive ones were treated by a marginal surgery followed by additional radiotherapy (6 patients). The average follow-up period was 13 years.