ABSTRACT
Patients with spinal metastasis are often frail, present with multiple medical comorbidities, and the impact of surgery must be considered terms of interruption of oncological management and quality of life. As a result, the ideal surgical intervention that achieves local control for spinal metastases would limit delays in systemic treatment for the primary and disseminated tumor, facilitate prompt wound healing and functional recovery, and minimize post-operative pain and morbidity. In this setting, spinal laser interstitial thermal therapy (sLITT) has become an emerging treatment option for a select group of patients with metastatic disease to the spine. As the experience with sLITT continues to improve, it will be necessary to integrate technological advances to optimize the operative workflow and expand adoption of this technique to other centers. Ongoing work will also be needed to improve our understanding between sLITT and the broader evolving landscape of systemic oncologic therapies.
