Andrew Yew, MD, Jon Kimball, MS, Patrick Pezeshkian, MD, Daniel C. Lu, MD, PhD

Department of Neurosurgery, Ronald Reagan Medical Center, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA

Spinal metastatic lesions are the most common tumors encountered by spinal surgeons. As with procedures for degenerative disease, MIS techniques have been applied to minimize muscle and soft tissue destruction in procedures for tumor resection. Here, we present a 23 year old female with radiculopathy and foot drop secondary to nerve root compression by epidural metastases from Ewing’s sarcoma.

This patient had a history of previous resection and instrumentation as well as multiple rounds of chemotherapy and radiation that failed to control her disease. The patient presented with 3 weeks of radicular pain and foot drop that was continuing to worsen at the time of her operation. The decision was therefore made to perform a palliative resection and decompression for relief of her progressive symptoms. In this video, we demonstrate a palliative tumor debulking and nerve root decompression utilizing an MIS approach.