Survival after surgery for spinal and extremity metastases. Prognostication in 241 patients.

We assessed the survival after surgery in 153 patients with extremity metastases and 88 with spinal metastases. The survival rate for the whole series of 241 patients was 0.30 at 1 year, 0.15 at 2, and 0.08 at 3 years. The 1-year survival rate was the same for the extremity metastases group and the spinal group. Univariate analysis showed that 1-year survival was related to metastatic load, site of primary tumor, and presence of pathologic fracture. Multivariate regression analysis showed that pathologic fracture, visceral or brain metastases, and lung cancer were negative prognostic variables. Solitary skeletal metastases, breast and kidney cancer, myeloma, and lymphoma were positive variables. A prognostication model based on these variables stratified the patients into 3 groups with a 1-year survival ranging from 0.5 to 0.0. These prognostic variables can be used for differentiating the treatment of cancer patients with pathologic fracture or epidural compression.