Assessing the prognosis before treatment for metastatic spine tumor is extremely 
important in therapy selection. Therefore, we review some prognostic scoring 
systems and their outcomes. Articles with combinations of two keywords among 
"metastatic spine tumor" and "prognosis", "score", "scoring system", 
"predicting", or "life expectancy" were searched for in PubMed. As a result, 236 
articles were extracted. Those referring to representative scoring systems about 
predicting the survival of patients with metastatic spine tumors were used. The 
significance and limits of these scoring systems, and the future perspectives 
were described. Tokuhashi score, Tomita score, Baur score, Linden score, Rades 
score, and Katagiri score were introduced. They are all scoring systems prepared 
by combining factors that affect prognosis. The primary site of cancer and 
visceral metastasis were common factors in all of these scoring systems. Other 
factors selected to influence the prognosis varied. They were useful to roughly 
predict the survival period, such as, "more than one year or not" or "more than 
six months or not". In particular, they were utilized for decision-making about 
operative indications and avoidance of excessive medical treatment. Because the 
function depended on the survival period in the patients with metastatic spine 
tumor, it was also utilized in assessing functional prognosis. However, no 
scoring system had more than 90% consistency between the predicted and actual 
survival periods. Future perspectives should adopt more oncological viewpoints 
with adjustment of the process of treatment for metastatic spine tumor.