J Korean Soc Spine Surg.  2010 Dec;17(4):164-168. 10.4184/jkss.2010.17.4.164.

The Influence of Cervical Spondylosis to Acute Cervical Spinal Cord Injury

• Seo HY
• Chung JY
• Kim KH

• KMID: 2209578
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4184/jkss.2010.17.4.164

Abstract

STUDY DESIGN: A retrospective study
OBJECTIVES
To examine the influence of cervical spondylosis on an acute cervical spinal cord injury. SUMMARY OF LITERATURE REVIEW: There are no reports on the relationship between cervical spondylosis and acute cervical spinal cord injuries.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Twenty six patients who underwent operative treatment for acute cervical injuries with spinal cord injury were evaluated. The mean age and follow-up period was 58 years and 2.2 years, respectively. The evaluation was performed by examining the causes of the injuries, and the classification of fractures according to the presence of cervical spondylosis. This study compared the degrees of postoperative neurological recovery with motor index score in the groups with and without cervical spondylosis.
RESULTS
Cervical cord injuries were more prevalent in the group 60 years and older; 17 cases vs. 9 cases in the group under 60 years. Eleven (65%) and 6 (35%) cases in the group 60 years and older had sustained a high and low energy injury, respectively. In contrast, mostly high energy injuries (8 in 9 cases) were encountered in the group under 60 years of age. A low energy injury could cause a acute cervical cord injury in the group 60 years and older, who also had cervical spondylosis. In those cases, previous cervical spondylosis might be one of the etiologic factors.
CONCLUSIONS
The cases with cervical spondylosis in the group 60 years and older tended to show incomplete cord injury and good postoperative neurological recovery when they had sustained cervical cord injuries.

Keyword

Acute spinal cord injury; Cervical spondylosis

MeSH Terms

Follow-Up Studies
Humans
Retrospective Studies
Spinal Cord
Spinal Cord Injuries
Spondylosis

Figure

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  Fig 1. Relations between Age, Energy intensity of injury and the Presence of cervical spondylosis.

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  Fig 2. Postoperative neurological recovery rate.

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  Fig 3. This 57 year old male patient with distractive-flexion injury(stage III) due to fall from 1.5m had incomplete cord injury. (A) Preoperative X-ray shows degenerative changes at adjacent segment of injured segment. (B) His neurological recovery rate of motor index score is 75% at the last follow-up.

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