Every year, MD Anderson’s surgeons perform more than 200 spine tumor operations. While some of the patients have primary spine tumors, almost 90% of them have metastatic cancer.

“After the lungs and liver, the skeleton is the third most common area where cancer spreads. And within the skeleton, the spine is the most common site,” explains Laurence Rhines, M.D., professor of Neurosurgery.

Managing spinal metastases is challenging...