Transoral Vertebroplasty for Osteolytic C2 Metastasis: Report of 2 Cases

Corresponding author: Ho-Shin Gwak Department of Cancer Control, Graduate School of Cancer Science and Policy, National Cancer Center, 323 Ilsan-ro, Ilsandong-gu, Goyang 10408, Republic of Korea Tel: +82-31-920-1666 Fax: +82-31-920-2798 E-mail: nsghs@ncc.re.kr Herein we reported 2 cases of vertebroplasty (VP) via the transoral route for osteolytic painful odontoid (C2) metastasis from non-small cell lung cancer. A 52-year-old man, who was diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer a year ago, presented neck pain, which was aggravated on swallowing in September, 2015. Neuroimaging revealed osteolytic metastasis of C2 with atlanto-axial joint invasion and of C4 without compression. The metastatic cancer of multiple bone and soft tissues progressed despite the chemotherapy; hence, minimally invasive palliative therapy was needed for immediate relief of the patient’s pain. Another patient, 54-year-old man, also diagnosed non-small cell lung cancer revealed neck pain in May, 2018. He had stopped systemic chemotherapy 6 months ago due to lack of effective available regimen and received stereotactic radiosurgery for multiple brain metastases 3 months ago. Spinal computed tomography revealed C2 osteolytic lesion and we performed transoral VP for pain control. Based on our experience, transoral VP for C2 osteolytic metastasis could be performed safely and resulted in significant and immediate pain relief.