The Role of Unilateral Hemilaminectomy in Benign Intradural Spinal Tumor Surgery

Objective: Hemilaminectomy can be used to treat different space-occupying lesions, whether intradural, extramedullary, intramedullary, or extradural. In this study, We have investigated to illuminate the role of hemilaminectomy in benign spinal cord tumors, which occupy the spinal canal. Materials and Methods: 15 patients with spinal tumors who were operated on with hemilaminectomy were included in the evaluation. The hemilaminectomy method was chosen based on the size, laterality, number of segments involved, and possible pathologies. The demographics of the subjects, as well as their operating reports, histological results, pre- and postoperative images, and follow-up information, were examined. Frankel grade classification was used to assess the neurological status on admission and during follow-up. Results: The mean age of the patients was 48.4 years. Nine of the patients were male and 6 were female. According to tumor localization, 3 of them were cervical, 7 were thoracic, and 5 were lumbar. 4 of them were meningiomas, 6 were ependymomas, and 5 were schwannomas. One patient was worse than the pre-operative, and the post-operative grades of the remaining 11 patients were similar to the pre-operative grades. Post-operative imaging showed that gross-total resection was achieved in all patients. Conclusion: If used correctly and with a reasonable learning curve, limited unilateral hemilaminectomy can offer enough access to the dural sac, allowing for safe resection of nearly all spinal intradural and extradural lesions. Because it takes less time to operate than a standard laminectomy, it is better for older or high-risk patients.