title: Thoracic myelopathy in the Japanese: epidemiological and clinical observations on the cases in Miyagi Prefecture.
abstract: Surgeries for thoracic myelopathy for 7 years in a northeastern prefecture (population, 2.26 million) and surrounding areas were reviewed. Eighty-one residents in the prefecture were operated on. The annual operation rate per one million people was 5.1. The rate corresponded to 9% of that reported for cervical myelopathy in the same prefecture. The mean age at operation was 55 years. Fifty-five patients (68%) were male and 26 (32%), female. Twenty-eight % of the patients had preoperative periods longer than two years, and 23% had severe disabilities. Anterior decompression was performed in 27%, posterior decompression in the others. The postoperative recovery rate averaged 48%. The lowest rate was 31% in patients with a preoperative duration of more than 2 years (p < 0.05). Sixty-four % of the patients had ossification of the ligamentum flavum; 20%, posterior spur; 19%, disc herniation; 16%, ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament; 1%, calcification of the ligamentum flavum; 1%, degenerative spondylolisthesis. Seventy-nine % had one of the above spinal factors and 21% had two.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Tohoku University School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kokubun
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ishii
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007405:Intervertebral Disc Displacement / Q000453:epidemiology; D007564:Japan; D017843:Ligamentum Flavum; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009493:Neurosurgery / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017887:Ossification of Posterior Longitudinal Ligament / Q000453:epidemiology; D009999:Ossification, Heterotopic / Q000453:epidemiology; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013118:Spinal Cord Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000601:surgery; D013909:Thorax; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D016896:Treatment Outcome