Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

The aim of Şelaru et al. was to identify the demographics, the location, and the histopathological aspects of spinal metastases from gastrointestinal cancers diagnosed and treated in a reference Hospital in Romania over a period of nine years, and comparing the data obtained with those from the recent literature.

In a retrospective case series study on spinal metastases from gastrointestinal cancers, developed in patients older than 18 years that were surgically treated between January 2013 and December 2021 within three Neurosurgery Clinics from Emergency Hospital Professor Doctor Nicolae Oblu, Iaşi, Romania, which is a tertiary Hospital in Romania regarding spinal metastases surgery. They included the patient's demographic data (age and gender), clinical data (location of spinal metastases), radiological investigations and pathological features of the lesions. Regarding the immunohistochemical stainings, the following antibodies were used: anti-cytokeratin (CK)7, anti-CK20, anti-CK19, anti-caudal-type homeobox 2 (CDX2), anti-human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), and anti-Ki67. The series included 40 adult patients (≥18 years old) with a male:female ratio of 3:1, in favor of male patients. The mean age of all patients was 66.42 years. The primary sites of spinal metastases from GI cancers were from all segments of the GI system: the most frequent, however, was from the colorectal level (40%) and the least from the oral cavity level (2.5%). The most common site of spinal metastases from GI cancer was predominantly lumbar region (47.5%), and the most frequent histological type was adenocarcinoma (57.5%), followed by hepatocellular carcinoma (27.5%), pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (5%) and squamous cell carcinoma (2.5%) ¹⁾.