Quality of Life Changes After Surgery for Metastatic Spinal Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

STUDY DESIGN: This was a systematic review and meta-analysis. OBJECTIVE: A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to assess the quality of life (QoL) after open surgery for spinal metastases, and how surgery affects physical, social/family, emotional, and functional well-being. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: It remains questionable to what extent open surgery improves QoL for metastatic spinal disease, it would be interesting to quantify the magnitude and duration of QoL benefits-if any-after surgery for spinal metastases. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Included were studies measuring QoL before and after nonpercutaneous, open surgery for spinal metastases for various indications including pain, spinal cord compression, instability, or tumor control. A random-effect model assessed standardized mean differences (SMDs) of summary QoL scores between baseline and 1, 3, 6, or 9-12 months after surgery. RESULTS: The review yielded 10 studies for data extraction. The pooled QoL summary score improved from baseline to 1 month (SMD=1.09, P