• Thomas Gösling, Maximilian A Pichlmaier, Florian Länger, Christian Krettek, and Tobias Hüfner.
• Department of Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery, General Hospital of Braunschweig, Holwedestrasse 16, 38118, Braunschweig, Germany. t.goesling@klinikum-braunschweig.de
• Eur Spine J. 2013 May 1;22 Suppl 3:S363-8.

ObjectiveWe report a case of multilevel spondylectomy in which resection and replacement of the adjacent aorta were done. Although spondylectomy is nowadays an established technique, no report on a combined aortic resection and replacement has been reported so far.MethodsThe case of a 43-year-old man with a primary chondrosarcoma of the thoracic spine is presented. The local pathology necessitated resection of the aorta. We did a two-stage procedure with resection and replacement of the aorta using a heart-lung machine followed by secondary tumor resection and spinal reconstruction.ResultsThe procedure was successful. A tumor-free margin was achieved. The patient is free of disease 48 months after surgery.ConclusionEn bloc spondylectomy in combination with aortic resection is feasible and might expand the possibility of producing tumor-free margins in special situations.

13 keywords...

hide…