{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,23]],"date-time":"2026-05-23T09:11:32Z","timestamp":1779527492955,"version":"3.53.1"},"reference-count":66,"publisher":"Journal of Neurosurgery Publishing Group (JNSPG)","issue":"2","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["FOC"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2016,8]]},"abstract":"\n OBJECTIVE<\/jats:title>\n Treatment advances have resulted in improved survival for many cancer types, and this, in turn, has led to an increased incidence of metastatic disease, specifically to the vertebral column. Surgical decompression and stabilization prior to radiation therapy have been shown to improve functional outcomes, but anterior access to the thoracolumbar junction may involve open thoracotomy, which can cause significant morbidity. The authors describe the treatment of 12 patients in whom a mini-open thoracoscopic-assisted approach (mini-open TAA) to the thoracolumbar junction was used to treat metastatic disease, with an analysis of outcomes.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n METHODS<\/jats:title>\n The authors reviewed a retrospective cohort of patients treated for thoracolumbar junction metastatic disease with mini-open TAA between 2004 and 2016. Data collection included operative time, estimated blood loss, length of stay, follow-up duration, and pre- and postoperative visual analog scale scores and Frankel grades.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n RESULTS<\/jats:title>\n Twelve patients underwent a mini-open TAA procedure for metastatic disease at the thoracolumbar junction. The mean age of patients was 59 years (range 53\u201377 years), mean estimated blood loss was 613 ml, and the mean duration of the mini-open TAA procedure was 234 minutes (3.8 hours). The median length of stay in the hospital was 7.5 days (range 5\u201321 days). All 12 patients had significant improvement in their postoperative pain scores in comparison with their preoperative pain scores (p < 0.001). No patients suffered from worsening neurological function after surgery, and of 7 patients who presented with neurological dysfunction, 6 (86%) had an improvement in their Frankel grade after surgery. No patients experienced delayed hardware failure requiring reoperation over a mean follow-up of 10 months (range 1\u201345 months).<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n CONCLUSIONS<\/jats:title>\n The mini-open TAA to the thoracolumbar junction for metastatic disease is a durable procedure that has a reduced morbidity rate compared with traditional open thoracotomy for ventral decompression and fusion. It compares well with traditional and novel posterior approaches to the thoracolumbar junction. The authors found a significant improvement in preoperative pain and neurological symptoms that supports greater use of the mini-open TAA for the treatment of complex metastatic disease at the thoracolumbar junction.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3171\/2016.5.focus16162","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2016,8,1]],"date-time":"2016-08-01T03:37:36Z","timestamp":1470022656000},"page":"E16","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":11,"title":["The role of the mini-open thoracoscopic-assisted approach in the management of metastatic spine disease at the thoracolumbar junction"],"prefix":"10.3171","volume":"41","author":[{"given":"Vijay M.","family":"Ravindra","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurosurgery, Clinical Neurosciences Center and Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Andrea","family":"Brock","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurosurgery, Clinical Neurosciences Center and Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Al-Wala","family":"Awad","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurosurgery, Clinical Neurosciences Center and Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ricky","family":"Kalra","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurosurgery, Clinical Neurosciences Center and Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Meic H.","family":"Schmidt","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurosurgery, Clinical Neurosciences Center and Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1754","reference":[{"issue":"6","key":"b1-focus16162","series-title":"Neurosurg Focus","first-page":"E4","article-title":"Thoracoscopic spine surgery for decompression and stabilization of the anterolateral thoracolumbar spine","volume":"19","author":"Amini","year":"2005"},{"key":"b2-focus16162","series-title":"Endoscopic Spine Surgery and Instrumentation: Percutaneous Procedures.","first-page":"180","article-title":"Thoracoscopic decompression and fixation (MACS-TL)","author":"Balabhadra","year":"2005"},{"key":"b3-focus16162","series-title":"Atlas of Minimal Access Spine Surgery","article-title":"Endoscopic anterior repair in spinal trauma","author":"Beisse","year":"2004"},{"key":"b4-focus16162","series-title":"Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery.","first-page":"203","article-title":"Thoracoscopically assisted anterior approach to thoracolumbar fractures","author":"Beisse","year":"2006"},{"key":"b5-focus16162","series-title":"Spine (Phila Pa 1976)","first-page":"E654","article-title":"Splenic rupture related to thoracoscopic spine surgery","volume":"35","author":"Binning","year":"2010"},{"key":"b6-focus16162","series-title":"J Bone Joint Surg Br","first-page":"521","article-title":"The surgical treatment of bony metastases of the spine and limbs","volume":"84","author":"B\u00f6hm","year":"2002"},{"key":"b7-focus16162","series-title":"N Engl J Med","first-page":"614","article-title":"Spinal cord compression from epidural metastases","volume":"327","author":"Byrne","year":"1992"},{"key":"b8-focus16162","series-title":"J Neurosurg Spine","first-page":"71","article-title":"Mini-open transpedicular corpectomies with expandable cage reconstruction. Technical note","volume":"14","author":"Chou","year":"2011"},{"key":"b9-focus16162","series-title":"Neurosurgery","first-page":"279","article-title":"Thoracic vertebrectomy and reconstruction using a microsurgical thoracoscopic approach","volume":"38","author":"Dickman","year":"1996"},{"key":"b10-focus16162","series-title":"Spine (Phila Pa 1976)","first-page":"614","article-title":"Validation of the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) motor score and the National Acute Spinal Cord Injury Study (NASCIS) motor score","volume":"21","author":"El Masry","year":"1996"},{"key":"b11-focus16162","series-title":"Neurosurg Clin N Am","first-page":"443","article-title":"Anterior approaches for thoracolumbar metastatic spine tumors","volume":"15","author":"Fourney","year":"2004"},{"key":"b12-focus16162","series-title":"Oncology (Williston Park)","first-page":"1013","article-title":"Current surgical management of metastatic spinal disease","volume":"14","author":"Gerszten","year":"2000"},{"key":"b13-focus16162","series-title":"Ann Neurol","first-page":"40","article-title":"Epidural spinal cord compression from metastatic tumor: diagnosis and treatment","volume":"3","author":"Gilbert","year":"1978"},{"key":"b14-focus16162","series-title":"Neurosurg Clin N Am","first-page":"391","article-title":"Embolization of metastatic spinal tumors","volume":"15","author":"Gottfried","year":"2004"},{"key":"b15-focus16162","series-title":"Ann Neurol","first-page":"361","article-title":"Epidural spinal cord compression from metastatic tumor: results with a new treatment protocol","volume":"8","author":"Greenberg","year":"1980"},{"key":"b16-focus16162","series-title":"J Am Acad Orthop Surg","first-page":"76","article-title":"Metastatic tumors of the spine: diagnosis and treatment","volume":"1","author":"Harrington","year":"1993"},{"key":"b17-focus16162","series-title":"Ann Surg","first-page":"720","article-title":"Video-assisted thoracic surgery. 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Randomized prospective comparison of laminectomy and radiotherapy","volume":"53","author":"Young","year":"1980"},{"issue":"6","key":"b1-focus16162","series-title":"Neurosurg Focus","first-page":"E4","article-title":"Thoracoscopic spine surgery for decompression and stabilization of the anterolateral thoracolumbar spine","volume":"19","author":"Amini","year":"2005"},{"key":"b2-focus16162","series-title":"Endoscopic Spine Surgery and Instrumentation: Percutaneous Procedures.","first-page":"180","article-title":"Thoracoscopic decompression and fixation (MACS-TL)","author":"Balabhadra","year":"2005"},{"key":"b3-focus16162","series-title":"Atlas of Minimal Access Spine Surgery","article-title":"Endoscopic anterior repair in spinal trauma","author":"Beisse","year":"2004"},{"key":"b4-focus16162","series-title":"Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery.","first-page":"203","article-title":"Thoracoscopically assisted anterior approach to thoracolumbar fractures","author":"Beisse","year":"2006"},{"key":"b5-focus16162","series-title":"Spine (Phila Pa 1976)","first-page":"E654","article-title":"Splenic rupture related to thoracoscopic spine surgery","volume":"35","author":"Binning","year":"2010"},{"key":"b6-focus16162","series-title":"J Bone Joint Surg Br","first-page":"521","article-title":"The surgical treatment of bony metastases of the spine and limbs","volume":"84","author":"B\u00f6hm","year":"2002"},{"key":"b7-focus16162","series-title":"N Engl J Med","first-page":"614","article-title":"Spinal cord compression from epidural metastases","volume":"327","author":"Byrne","year":"1992"},{"key":"b8-focus16162","series-title":"J Neurosurg Spine","first-page":"71","article-title":"Mini-open transpedicular corpectomies with expandable cage reconstruction. 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