Quantitative assessment of cervical spondylotic myelopathy by a simple walking test

We developed a 30 m walking test as a quantifiable measure of severity of cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM), which will be of use in determining the effects of decompressive surgical treatment. Preoperative measurements were made in 41 patients with CSM of 30 m walking times, number of steps tak...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Lancet (British edition) 1999-07, Vol.354 (9176), p.370-373
Main Authors: SINGH, A, CROCKARD, H. A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aged
Biological and medical sciences
Cervical Vertebrae - physiopathology
Cervical Vertebrae - surgery
Decompression, Surgical
Exercise Test
Female
Humans
Investigative techniques, diagnostic techniques (general aspects)
Male
Measurement
Medical diagnosis
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Nervous system
Neurologic Examination
Neurology
Pathology. Cytology. Biochemistry. Spectrometry. Miscellaneous investigative techniques
Postoperative Complications - diagnosis
Postoperative Complications - physiopathology
Reference Values
Sensitivity and Specificity
Spinal Cord Compression - diagnosis
Spinal Cord Compression - physiopathology
Spinal Cord Compression - surgery
Spinal Osteophytosis - diagnosis
Spinal Osteophytosis - physiopathology
Spinal Osteophytosis - surgery
Walking
Walking - physiology
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:We developed a 30 m walking test as a quantifiable measure of severity of cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM), which will be of use in determining the effects of decompressive surgical treatment. Preoperative measurements were made in 41 patients with CSM of 30 m walking times, number of steps taken over this distance, myelopathy disability index (MDI), and Nurick scores. The walking factors were compared with a similar number of age-matched and sex-matched controls. The individuals in the study were patients with CSM and no other relevant pathology consecutively referred for decompressive surgery to the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery. Both walking time and the number of steps taken were significantly worse in pre-operative patients than in controls. The walking data were highly reproducible over three trials. Postoperatively, there was a significant improvement in walking time (p=0.0018) and number of steps taken (p=5.87 x 10(-6)). Only two of 41 patients were worse postoperatively. There was also a significant improvement in MDI (two-tailed Wilcoxon, related samples; p
ISSN:0140-6736
1474-547X
DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(98)10199-X