Functional Outcomes in Individuals Undergoing Very Early (< 5 h) and Early (5–24 h) Surgical Decompression in Traumatic Cervical Spinal Cord Injury: Analysis of Neurological Improvement from the Austrian Spinal Cord Injury Study

2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (24) ◽  
pp. 3362-3371 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georg Mattiassich ◽  
Maria Gollwitzer ◽  
Franz Gaderer ◽  
Martina Blocher ◽  
Michael Osti ◽  
...  
2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. 633-641 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marko Jug ◽  
Nataša Kejžar ◽  
Matej Cimerman ◽  
Fajko F. Bajrović

OBJECTIVEThe objective of this prospective study was to determine the optimal timing for surgical decompression (SD) in patients with acute traumatic cervical spinal cord injury (tSCI) within the first 24 hours of injury.METHODSIn successive patients with fracture and/or dislocation of the subaxial cervical spine and American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale (AIS) grades A–C, receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used to determine the optimal timing for SD within the first 24 hours of cervical tSCI to obtain a neurological recovery of at least two AIS grades. Multivariate logistic regression was used to model significant neurological recovery with time to SD, degree of spinal canal compromise (SCC), and severity of injury.RESULTSIn this cohort of 64 patients, the optimal timing for SD to obtain a significant neurological improvement was within 4 hours of injury (95% confidence interval 4–9 hours). Increasing the delay from injury to SD or the degree of SCC significantly reduced the likelihood of significant neurological improvement. Due to the strong correlation with SCC, the severity of injury was a marginally significant predictor of neurological recovery.CONCLUSIONSThese findings indicate that in patients with acute cervical tSCI and AIS grades A–C, the optimal timing for SD is within the first 4–9 hours of injury, depending on the degree of SCC and the severity of injury. Further studies are required to better understand the interrelationships among the timing of SD, injury severity, and degree of SCC in these patients.


Author(s):  
Gijs J. A. Willinge ◽  
Falco Hietbrink ◽  
Luke P. H. Leenen

Abstract Background Cricothyroidotomy and surgical tracheostomy are methods to secure airway patency. In emergency surgery, these methods are nowadays mostly reserved for patients unsuited for percutaneous procedures. Detailed description of complications and functional outcomes following both procedures is underreported in current literature. The aim of this study was to evaluate outcomes following cricothyroidotomy and tracheostomy in this presumed complex population. Methods In this retrospective cohort study, adult emergency surgical patients treated with cricothyroidotomy and/or surgical tracheostomy were included. Postoperative complications and functional outcomes in trauma and non-trauma patients were evaluated. Results Forty-one trauma patients and 11 non-trauma emergency surgical patients (mainly after elective onco-abdominal or vascular surgery) were included. Of 52 patients, seven underwent cricothyroidotomy pre-tracheostomy. Mortality was higher in non-trauma patients (p = 0.04) following both procedures. Over half of patients (56%, n = 29) regained unsupported airway patency with a tendency toward increased tracheostomy removal in trauma patients. Among complications, only pneumonia occurred frequently (60%, n = 31), with no relation to patient type. Other complications included local infection (5.8%, n = 4) and wound dehiscence (1.9%, n = 1). Adverse functional outcomes were frequently observed and were mild and self-limiting. Cervical spinal cord injury reduced overall unsupported airway patency (p = 0.01); with high cervical spinal cord injury related to adverse functional outcomes and increased home ventilation need. Conclusions No major procedure-related complications or functional adverse events were encountered following cricothyroidotomy and surgical tracheostomy, even though only complex patients were included. Only mild, self-limiting functional problems occurred, especially in trauma patients with cervical injury who underwent early tracheostomy by longitudinal incision. This information can aid clinicians in making tailor-made decisions for individual patients.


Neurosurgery ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 66 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomoo Inoue ◽  
Toshiki Endo ◽  
Shinsuke Suzuki ◽  
Hiroshi Uenohara ◽  
Teiji Tominaga

Abstract INTRODUCTION Patients with cervical spinal cord injury (SCI) show different clinical outcomes. There is a significant association between the acute magnetic resonance (MR) imaging of cervical SCI and neurological recovery of cervical SCI. We speculated that principal component analysis (PCA), a dimension reduction procedure, would detect clinically predictive patterns in complex MR imaging and predict neurological improvements assessed by the American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale (AIS) and Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) score. METHODS We performed a retrospective analysis of 50 patients with cervical SCI who underwent early surgical decompression less than 48 h after the trauma. We analyzed 7 types of MR imaging assessments: axial grade assessed by the Brain and Spinal Injury Center score (BASIC), longitudinal intramedurallry lesion length, spinal cord signal intensity on T1 and T2 weighted image, maximum canal compromise, maximum spinal cord compression, Subaxial Cervical Spine Injury Classification System. PCA was applied on these multivariate data to identify factors that contribute to recovery after cervical SCI following surgery. AIS conversion was evaluated at 6 mo. RESULTS Nonlinear principal component (PC) evaluation detected 2 features of MR imaging. PCA revealed PC 1 (40.6%) explaining the intramedullary signal abnormalities that were negatively associated with postoperative AIS conversion. PC2 (18.5%) suggested extrinsic morphological variables, but did not predict outcomes. The BASIC score revealed the significant overall predictive value for AIS conversion at six months (AUC 0.86). This result suggested that the intramedullary signal abnormalities reflect delayed neurological improvements even after early surgical decompressions in patients with cervical SCI. CONCLUSION PCA could be a useful data-mining tool to show the complex relationships between acute MR imaging findings in cervical SCI. This study emphasized the importance of multivariable intramedullary MR imaging as clinical outcome predictors.


2016 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 194-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jin Hoon Park ◽  
Jeoung Hee Kim ◽  
Sung Woo Roh ◽  
Seung Chul Rhim ◽  
Sang Ryong Jeon

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eiji Mori ◽  
Takayoshi Ueta ◽  
Takeshi Maeda ◽  
Ryousuke Ideta ◽  
Itaru Yugué ◽  
...  

OBJECTIVEThis study investigated neurological improvements after conservative treatment in patients with complete motor paralysis caused by acute cervical spinal cord injury (SCI) without bone and disc injury.METHODSThis study was retrospective. The authors evaluated neurological outcomes after conservative treatment of 62 patients with complete motor paralysis caused by cervical SCI without bone and disc injury within 72 hours after trauma. The sequential changes in their American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale (AIS) grades were reviewed at follow-up 24–72 hours, 1 week, and 1, 3, and 6 months after treatment.RESULTSOf the 31 patients with a baseline AIS grade of A, 2 (6.5%) patients improved to grade B, 5 (16.1%) improved to grade C, and 2 (6.5%) improved to grade D by the 6-month follow-up. The 22 (71.0%) patients who remained at AIS grade A 1 month after injury showed no neurological improvement at the 6-month follow-up. Of the 31 patients with a baseline AIS grade of B, 12 (38.7%) patients showed at least a 1-grade improvement at the 1-month follow-up; 11 (35.5%) patients improved to grade C and 16 (51.6%) patients improved to grade D at the 6-month follow-up.CONCLUSIONSEven in patients with complete motor paralysis caused by cervical SCI without bone and disc injury within 72 hours after trauma, approximately 30% of the patients with an AIS grade of A and 85% of the patients with an AIS grade B improved neurologically after conservative treatment. It is very important to recognize the extent of neurological improvement possible with conservative treatment, even for severe complete motor paralysis.


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