Table 1. Demographic data of included studies.
| Study | Design and procedure | Level of evidence | Open | MIS cohort | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n | Sex | Age (years) | Follow-up (months) | n | Sex | Age (years) | Follow-up (months) | ||||
| Chou and Lu, 2011 (47) | Retrospective series of ten patients treated with MIS or open instrumentation and 360° decompression | III | 5 | 80% M | 64.4 | 20.0±13.2 | 5 | 80% M | 50.4 | 7.4±4.2 | |
| Fang et al. 2012 (48) | Retrospective series of 41 patients with thoracolumbar metastases (53.7% M; mean 54.0 years old) treated with posterior en bloc spondylectomy or mini-open anterior corpectomy | III | 17 | – | – | 24.8±7.7 | 24 | – | – | 17.0±3.7 | |
| Hansen-Algenstaedt et al. 2017 (49) | Case-control study comparing 30 patients undergoing MIS to 30 undergoing posterior open decompression and fusion | III | 30 | 60% M | 60.2 | – | 30 | 43% M | 61.8 | – | |
| Hikata et al. 2017 (50) | Retrospective series of 50 patients treated with either open decompression and fusion or mini-open posterior decompression and percutaneous fixation | III | 25 | 48% M | 62.8 | 12.0±14.8 | 25 | 60% M | 63.6 | 9.9±8.2 | |
| Huang et al. 2006 (51) | Retrospective series comparing 29 patients undergoing minimal-access thoracotomy and anterior decompression to 17 patients undergoing standard thoracotomy | III | 17 | 47% M | 57.0 | – | 29 | 69% M | 58.0 | – | |
| Kumar et al. 2017 (52) | Retrospective series of 27 patients treated with MIS and 18 patients treated for spinal metastasis | III | 18 | 45% M | 65.0 | 7.5 | 27 | 67% M | 62.0 | 12.0 | |
| Lau and Chou, 2015 (53) | Retrospective series of 21 patients treated with MIS decompression and percutaneous fusion and 28 treated with open decompression and fusion | III | 28 | 64% M | 59.5 | – | 21 | 52% M | 55.8 | – | |
| Miscusi et al. 2015 (54) | Retrospective series of 23 patients treated with MIS laminotomy/laminectomy and percutaneous fusion and 19 patients treated with open laminectomy and fusion | III | 19 | 37% M | 52.0 | – | 23 | 26% M | 58.0 | – | |
| Stoker et al. 2013 (55) | Retrospective series of eight patients with thoracic metastases treated with either video-assisted thoracoscopy or open thoracotomy | III | 4 | 50% M | 54.0 | 19.4±18.2 | 4 | 75% M | 54.0 | 13.1±7.1 | |
M, male; MIS, minimally invasive.