Surgical outcomes of elderly patients with cervical spondylotic myelopathy.
BACKGROUND
Cervical spondylotic myelopathy is a potentially serious neurologic disorder that commonly presents with gait difficulty and hand dysfunction. Because the development of CSM is in large part related to advanced spondylosis and degenerative disk disease, elderly patients appear to be at an increased risk to develop this condition. The surgical outcomes of this patient population have been understudied; the authors seek to report their clinical results in a series of patients with CSM older than 75 years who underwent surgical treatment.


METHODS
This report is composed of a cohort of 36 elderly patients (older than 75 years) and 34 younger patients (younger than 65 years) who underwent decompressive surgery for CSM at one institution between 2001 and 2005. The patients' functional status was evaluated preoperatively and postoperatively using the mJOA disability scale.


RESULTS
The mean follow-up time in the elderly group was 24 months, with a range from 12 to 48 months. There was a statistically significant improvement between mean preoperative (11.3) and postoperative (14.4) mJOA scores (P< .0001). The younger group had a higher neurologic recovery rate (71%) than the elderly group (59%); however, this was not statistically significant (P= .29). The postoperative complication rate in the elderly population (38%) was higher than in the younger group (6%; P= .002).


CONCLUSIONS
Elderly patients with CSM are likely to obtain neurologic improvement after decompressive surgery. Their postoperative complication rate is higher than that of younger patients, yet most complications appear to be self limiting and do not adversely affect neurologic outcome.
Holly
Langston T
LT
Division of Neurosurgery, David Geffen UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. lholly@mednet.ucla.edu
Moftakhar
Parham
P
Khoo
Larry T
LT
Shamie
A Nick
AN
Wang
Jeffrey C
JC
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D019299:Decompression, Surgical / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007796:Laminectomy / Q000379:methods*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009069:Movement Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D018908:Muscle Weakness / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D019635:Neurosurgical Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D011596:Psychomotor Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D020127:Recovery of Function; D012021:Reflex, Abnormal / Q000502:physiology; D013117:Spinal Cord Compression / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D013118:Spinal Cord Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000601:surgery*; D013128:Spinal Osteophytosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D016896:Treatment Outcome