Evaluation of modified Kumar and Kalra myelopathy scoring system in sub-axial spinal pathologies.
BACKGROUND
Various pathologies affect the spine, but these lesions present with more or less similar clinical profile. The present functional scoring systems are inadequate and insensitive to changes in neurological status of the patient.


OBJECTIVE
Our study aims to assess the modified Kumar and Kalra (K and K) scoring system in patients with pathologies in the sub-axial spine.


METHODS
A total of 78 consecutive patients from the period of January 2009 to June 2010 were prospectively included in the study. These patients were operated by the senior author at our institute. The mean Modified Japanese Orthopaedic Association (MJOA) score and the mean modified K and K score were calculated in the preoperative, at the time of discharge (post-surgery), and at 3 months and 6 months follow-up.


RESULTS
There were 57 male (73.01%) patients and 21 female patients (26.92%), with the mean age of presentation of 39.20 years (±14.12 years) and a range of 9-75 years. Out of the total 78 patients, 60 patients had pathology in the cervical spine (sub-axial spine) and 18 patients had pathology in the dorsal spine. Majority of the patients had motor and sensory symptoms. The mean preoperative modified K and K score was 17.38 (±3.18) and the mean preoperative MJOA score was 11.21 (±2.12). The K and K score was able to predict the correct outcome in 70 patients (89.74%), whereas the MJOA score was able to predict correctly in 62 patients (79.49%).


CONCLUSIONS
The modified K and K score has a better predictive value than the MJOA score.
Department of Neurosurgery, Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Rai Bareilly Road, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Anant
A
Mehrotra
Department of Neurosurgery, Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Rai Bareilly Road, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Arun
A
Srivastava
Department of Neurosurgery, Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Rai Bareilly Road, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Rabi N
RN
Sahu
Department of Neurosurgery, Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Rai Bareilly Road, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Raj
R
Kumar
Kumar and Kalra; myelopathy; scoring system
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