Risk Factors for Poor Outcome of Cervical Laminoplasty

A prospective study. The aim of this study was to characterize the risk factors for poor outcome following cervical laminoplasty in patients with cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM). Previous research has identified a variety of potential predictive factors that might affect outcomes after cervical laminoplasty. However, no study till date has assessed the effects of such risk factors, including internal medicine comorbidity and quantitative performance tests, on the outcome of laminoplasty in a large series of patients with CSM. A total of 505 consecutive patients with CSM (311 males; 194 females; mean age, 66.6 years; age range, 41–91 years) who underwent double-door laminoplasty were prospectively included. The average postoperative follow-up period was 26.5 months (range, 12–66 months). We evaluated the recovery rate (RR) on the basis of the Japanese Orthopaedic Association score. Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the risk factors for poor outcome, which was defined as a postoperative RR of <50%. Relationship between outcome and various clinical and imaging predictors was examined. Two hundred ninety-five patients had good outcomes with RR >50%, whereas 210 patients had poor outcomes with RR <50%. Compared with the good-outcome group, the poor-outcome group had a significantly higher prevalence of diabetes and hypertension and use of anticoagulant/antiplatelet agent and smoking history ( P < 0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed independent risks associated with increased age (odds ratio [ORs] = 1.029, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.004–1054, P = 0.023). Logistic regression analysis determined that symptom duration of CSM (OR = 1.017, 95% CI = 1.008–1.026, P < 0.001) and preoperative 10-second step test (OR = 0.922, 95% CI = 0.865–0.983, P = 0.013) were significant risk factors for poor outcome. These findings suggest that advanced age, long-term CSM symptoms, and lower score of preoperative 10-second step test are risk factors for poor outcome in patients with CSM. Level of Evidence: 2.