Secondary bone cancer in the spine. Sagittal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan of the thoracic (chest) spine of a 62-year-old man with prostate cancer, showing secondary cancer (metastatic cancer) in a vertebra (spinal bone) at centre. The cancer has affected the T4 vertebra, which has undergone a compression fracture collapse that is affecting the spinal cord. The prognosis is poor when a cancer has spread from its primary site to the patient's bones.