• David Choi, Steven Morris, Alan Crockard, Todd Albert, Cody Bunger, Michael Fehlings, James Harrop, Norio Kawahara, Juan A Martin, Eric M Massicotte, Christian Mazel, F C Oner, Wilco Peul, Katsuro Tomita, and Michael Wang.
• Department of Neurosurgery, The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, and Institute of Neurology, London, United Kingdom. Electronic address: david.choi@uclh.nhs.uk.
• World Neurosurg. 2013 Dec 1;80(6):e175-9.

ObjectiveTo review suitable measures of patient-assessed outcome of surgery for spinal metastases, and suggest the Health-Related Quality of Life measures that are useful and practical for this group of patients.MethodsSurgery for metastatic spinal tumors is becoming more common, but the impact of surgery on the patient, as determined by patient-assessed outcome measures, is not well known. The authors of this article include members of the Global Spine Tumour Study Group: an international group of spinal surgeons who are studying the techniques and outcomes of surgery for spinal tumors. During the development of a research database for the study of patients undergoing surgery for spinal metastases, the different outcome measures were discussed by a panel of spinal surgeons, and quality of life measures were chosen for inclusion, based on expert opinion and literature review.ResultsSeveral different measures are available to assess outcome after spinal surgery for metastatic disease, each with specific advantages and limitations, which are discussed. Our position is to use the EuroQoL EQ-5D questionnaire, because of its simplicity and reliability.ConclusionsWe recommend the use of the EQ-5D measure in research for assessment of patient-centered outcomes and calculation of cost effectiveness of surgery for spinal metastases. Routine use of the measure in clinical practice is also encouraged, because it is a simple and quick method to assess overall clinical outcome.Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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