Tumores espinales primarios en la infancia: Epidemiología, diagnóstico, estadificación y tratamiento

background: spine tumors are uncommon in childhood. the goal of our research is to analyze clinical and epidemiologic data, complementary studies, diagnostic procedures, staging criteria and therapeutic results. methods: 43 children treated along 20 years were retrospectively reviewed using a case-control design. the following data were analyzed before and after treatment: pain, neurological status, deformity, limp, local mass, recurrence, survival and therapeutic complications. lesions were classified according to histological specimens, anatomical size and biological behavior. follow up was ≥ 2 years and alfa was set at ≤ 0.05. results: there was male prevalence; mean age was 9.3 years. prevalent lesions were: langerhans cell histiocytosis, osteoid osteoma and aneurysmal bone cyst. the most frequent clinical data were: pain-deformity-neurological impairment. average diagnostic delay: 7 months. in most of the tumor-like lesions there was no correlation between histological benignancy and clinical behavior. surgery was performed in 31 children according to three basic procedures: curettage, en bloc resection, and vertebrectomy. the specific medical treatment included 13 patients with histiocytosis. the various treatment modalities improved the clinical data. conclusions: favorable clinical results essentially depend on adequate staging, early diagnosis and treatment. tumor staging is mandatory in order to analyze individual cases and to compare others samples.