Estimating survival and choosing treatment for spinal metastases: Do spine surgeons agree with each other?

This study aimed to investigate spine surgeons’ ability to estimate survival in patients with spinal metastases and whether survival estimates influence treatment recommendations. 60 Spine surgeons were asked a survival estimate and treatment recommendation in 12 cases. Intraclass correlation coefficients and descriptive statistics were used to evaluate variability, accuracy and association of survival estimates with treatment recommendation. There was substantial variability in survival estimates amongst the spine surgeons. Survival was generally overestimated, and longer estimated survival seemed to lead to more invasive procedures. Prognostic models to estimate survival may aid surgeons treating patients with spinal metastases.