(HealthDay News) -- Patients having
decompression surgery within 24 hours of a
Cervical spinal cord injury may
have a better outcome than those who have the procedure later, according
to new research.
Surgical decompression of the spinal cord involves the removal of
various tissue or bone fragments that are being squeezed and comprising
the spinal cord. While commonly done after an injury occurs, the timing of
the procedure varies widely.
The study looked at 170 patients with cervical spinal cord injuries,
graded as A (most several neurological involvement) to D (least severe),
who underwent decompression surgery.
Six months after the surgery, 24 percent of the patients who had the
surgery within 24 hours showed two-grade or greater improvement in their
condition compared with only 4 percent in the group that had the surgery
more than a day later.
"The initial results suggest that decompression within 24 hours of
injury may be associated with improved neurological recovery at one-year
follow-up. However, further recruitment of patients with long-term
follow-up is necessary to validate these promising results," study author
Michael Fehlings, head of the Krembil Neuroscience Center at the
University Health Network in Toronto, said in a prepared statement.
Fehlings was expected to present the findings in Chicago April 28 at
the annual meeting of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons.
Every year, almost 12,000 people in the United States and Canada,
mostly young adults, sustain a spinal cord injury. Although surgery, such
as decompression, can help, these procedures often do not dramatically
improve overall recovery and outcome.
"This is an area of medicine that has not seen tremendous scientific
advances, so there remains an urgent need to improve upon current
interventions to help restore neurological function in patients with acute
(spinal cord injury)," said Fehlings, who is also professor of
neurosurgery at the University of Toronto.
More information
The U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke has
more about spinal cord injuries.
