Surgery on the spine may be carried out for benign (non-cancerous) and malignant (cancerous) disease of the spine and its contents. However, most surgery on the spine is for degenerative disease including surgery for ruptured (herniated) disk (see Cervical Discectomy, Lumbar Discectomy, Lumbar Spinal Fusion, Cervical Laminectomy, Decompressive Lumbar Laminectomy), The first successful operation for a spinal tumor was in 1881 by Macewen on a patient who was completely paralyzed from the chest down. Removal of the tumor eventually led to a complete recovery.

Anatomy

• The normal spine is composed of building blocks called vertebrae
• There are seven cervical (neck), twelve thoracic (chest) and five lumbar (low back) vertebrae (Figure 1)

Figure 1 - The spine is composed of 5 cervical, 12 thoracic and 5 lumbar vertebrae.