Red flags to screen for malignancy in patients with low-back pain

Chronic hip pain

“…Red flags for bone and lower back pain include a history of malignancy, age >50 years, night pain, constant progressive pain, night sweats, loss of appetite, and weight loss. The usefulness of red flags is disputed, except for a history of malignancy 2. Cancers which most commonly metastasise to bone are breast, prostate, lung, thyroid, and renal 345.…”

Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm in a Patient With Low Back Pain

“…Although cancer could not be ruled out with 100% sensitivity, it is a rare cause of low back pain, and the patient did not demonstrate any of the strong predictive findings for cancer as a cause of low back pain. 8 In addition, Henschke et al 20 conducted a Cochrane review to assess the diagnostic accuracy of red flags in screening for spinal malignancy in patients with low back pain. This review found a previous history of malignancy to be a clinically meaningful finding for detecting cancer.…”

Surgical Treatment of Metastatic Disease of the Vertebral Column

“…However, in case of an unknown primary tumor, symptoms from the metastases may be the fi rst signs of any illness. In this case, there are many 'red fl ags' which have been described to help guide the need for spinal malignancy screening 2 . Although none of these red fl ags except for prior history of cancer carried much weight as a warning sign, careful use of combinations of red fl ags can be of benefi t (age over 50, pain not relieved after a month of rest, thoracic pain which is worse at night, unexplained weight loss, generally poor state of health, etc.)…”

“…Although none of these red fl ags except for prior history of cancer carried much weight as a warning sign, careful use of combinations of red fl ags can be of benefi t (age over 50, pain not relieved after a month of rest, thoracic pain which is worse at night, unexplained weight loss, generally poor state of health, etc.) 2 . It must be borne in mind that the goals of treatment of spinal metastases diff er from the goals of treating primary tumors considering that treatment is seldom curative.…”