Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy Patients Often Have Severe Residual Paresthesia

MONDAY, March 11, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Just under half of patients (45 percent) with degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM) show severe residual paresthesia one year after surgery, according to a study published online in the March 15 issue of Spine.

Koji Tamai, M.D., from Osaka Metropolitan University in Japan, and colleagues examined the incidence of residual paresthesias after surgery for DCM and analyzed the impact of these symptoms on clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction. The analysis included data from 187 patients who underwent laminoplasty for DCM.

The researchers found that 86 of 187 patients had severe residual paresthesia at one year postoperatively. There was a significant association between preoperative patient-oriented pain scale scores and postoperative residual paresthesia. Patients with severe postoperative residual paresthesia showed significantly smaller improvements in quality of life and myelopathy versus patients with no or mild residual paresthesia in a mixed-effect model. Furthermore, residual paresthesia was significantly associated with lower treatment satisfaction, independent of improvements in myelopathy and quality of life (adjusted odds ratio, 2.50).

"In patients who experience higher preoperative pain, multidisciplinary approaches for residual paresthesia, including medications for neuropathic pain, might lead to greater clinical satisfaction," the authors write.

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