Classification and treatment of cervical spinal cord injuries without fracture or dislocation / 中华创伤骨科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To evaluate retrospectively the causative factors and corresponding surgical treatments of cervical spinal cord injuries without fracture or dislocation. Methods 29 cases of cervical spinal cord injury without fracture or dislocation were studied to analyze their imaging manifestation, features and causative factors of the injury, and pathological elements. Different surgical operations were performed accordingly, and their short-term outcomes were evaluated. Results The analysis indicated that there were chiefly 3 groups of causative factors. About 24% of the patients were typical cervical disc protrusion or prolapse, about 52% of them suffered from obvious decrease or even disappearance of the storing space of spinal canal, and about 24% suffered from decrease of the storing space of spinal canal combined with segmental instability among the vertebras, or with cervical disc prolapse. The postoperative short follow-ups (a mean period of 8.5 months) for the 29 surgical treatments showed that their spinal cord functions had been improved significantly, with the recovery rate being 52.8% by Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) scoring. Conclusions Despite some common features, the causative factors for the cervical spinal cord injury without fracture or dislocation are quite different. Consequently, in order to achieve satisfactory outcomes, corresponding surgical operations with different approaches should be performed, and proper internal fixation should be applied according to the specific indications.