Correlation between the clinic and the index of cervical myelopathy Torg.
OBJECTIVE
Cervical myelopathy is a spinal cord dysfunction related to degeneration typical of aging. Its primary pathology is related to ischemia and spinal cord compression. Patients with myelopathy present many clinical problems; more severe cases may lead to quadriplegia if not treated in a timely manner. Because the primary pathology of this disease is caused by compression, thus generating spinal cord ischemia, we believed there must be a correlation between the degree of compression and the clinical assessment of patients with cervical myelopathy, but we did not find any study in the literature that made this correlation. Because there is doubt the literature we aimed, in our study, to analyze the correlation between the degree of clinical impairment of patients with cervical myelopathy and the Torg index.


METHODS
A prospective, descriptive study, evaluating 46 patients, in which radiographic measurements of the Torg index were performed, with clinical analysis through the Nurick and JOA scale.


RESULTS
Of the 46 study patients included in the study, 100% presented a Torg score <0.8. The decrease in Torg values was directly proportional to clinical worsening on the Nurick and JOA scale.


CONCLUSIONS
The degree of clinical impairment in patients with cervical myelopathy is directly related to the degree of spinal canal stenosis. Level of Evidence I, Prognostic Studies - Investigating the effect of the characteristics of a patient on the outcome of the disease.
Spinal Group of the Orthopedics and Traumatologiy service of Vila Velha Hospital and Hospital Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Vitória (EMESCAM) - Vitória, ES, Brazil.
Agnaldo Rogério
AR
Lozorio
Spinal Group of the Orthopedics and Traumatologiy service of Vila Velha Hospital and Hospital Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Vitória (EMESCAM) - Vitória, ES, Brazil.
Mateus
M
Borges
Spinal Group of the Orthopedics and Traumatologiy service of Vila Velha Hospital and Hospital Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Vitória (EMESCAM) - Vitória, ES, Brazil.
José Lucas
JL
Batista Junior
Spinal Group of the Orthopedics and Traumatologiy service of Vila Velha Hospital and Hospital Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Vitória (EMESCAM) - Vitória, ES, Brazil.
Charbel
C
Chacob Junior
Spinal Group of the Orthopedics and Traumatologiy service of Vila Velha Hospital and Hospital Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Vitória (EMESCAM) - Vitória, ES, Brazil.
Igor Cardoso
IC
Machado
Spinal Group of the Orthopedics and Traumatologiy service of Vila Velha Hospital and Hospital Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Vitória (EMESCAM) - Vitória, ES, Brazil.
Rodrigo
R
Rezende
Cervical vertebrae; Spinal cord compression; Spinal cord diseases