Comparison of the Neurological Outcome of Early Vs Late Surgery for Cervical Spinal Cord Injury
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51985/Keywords:
Cervical spinal, cord injury, Early surgery, Late surgery, ASIA scoreAbstract
Objective: To evaluate the differences in the neurological outcome of early and late surgical intervention in cervical spinal cord injury (CSCI) patients.
Study Design & Settings: Prospective cohort study at Department of Neurosurgery, Bahawal Victoria Hospital, Bahawalpur. Methodology: Eighty-eight patients aged between 20-60 years of age and presenting with the acute cervical spinal cord injury within the 12 hours of injury were taken. Patients were categorized into two groups according to the timing of the surgery; early surgery (less than 24 hours) and late surgery (greater than 24 hours). The assessment of neurological status was done on the basis of the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) preoperative and one-month postoperative.
Neurological recovery was defined as the improvement of one or more by one or two ASIA grades. The analysis of the data was done using SPSS version 25.0, and the chi-square test was used to compare the results.
Findings: A statistically significant difference between the early and late surgery groups was found with 56.8% and 31.8% patients recovering neurologically respectively (p = 0.02). Incomplete injuries (B-D) patients showed a superior recovery in comparison to the complete injuries (ASIA grade A).
Conclusion: Timely surgery is within the first 24 hours which is linked to a significantly better neurological outcome in patients with a cervical spinal cord injury. Surgical decompression to improve functional outcomes should be given priority to improve long-term disability reduction.
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