Authors

Sara E. Thompson, Northwestern University
Zachary A. Smith, Northwestern UniversityFollow
Wellington K. Hsu, Northwestern UniversityFollow
Ahmad Nassr, Mayo Clinic
Thomas E. Mroz, Cleveland Clinic
David E. Fish, UCLA Spine Center; University of California, Los AngelesFollow
Jeffrey C. Wang, USC Spine CenterFollow
Michael G. Fehlings, Toronto Western HospitalFollow
Chadi A. Tannoury, Boston University Medical CenterFollow
Tony Tannoury, Boston University Medical CenterFollow
P. Justin Tortolani, Johns Hopkins Medical Institution; Medstar Union Memorial HospitalFollow
Vincent C. Traynelis, Rush University Medical Center
Ziya Gokaslan, Brown University; Miriam Hospital; Rhode Island Hospital; Norman Prince Neurosciences InstituteFollow
Alan S. Hilibrand, Thomas Jefferson UniversityFollow
Robert E. Isaacs, Duke University Medical CenterFollow
Praveen V. Mummaneni, University of California, San FranciscoFollow
Dean Chou, University of California, San FranciscoFollow
Sheeraz A. Qureshi, Mount Sinai Hospital; Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Samuel K. Cho, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Evan O. Baird, Mount Sinai Hospital
Rick C. Sasso, Indiana University, IndianapolisFollow
Paul M. Arnold, Kansas University Medical Center
Zorica Buser, University of Southern California
Mohamad Bydon, Mayo Clinic
Michelle J Clarke, Mayo Clinic
Anthony F. De Giacomo, Toronto Western HospitalFollow
Adeeb Derakhshan, Cleveland Clinic
Bruce Jobse, Boston Medical Center; Johns Hopkins HospitalFollow
Elizabeth L. Lord, University of California, Los AngelesFollow
Daniel Lubelski, Boston Medical Center; Johns Hopkins Hospital
Eric M. Massicotte, Toronto Western Hospital; University of TorontoFollow
Michael P. Steinmetz, Cleveland Clinic FoundationFollow
Gabriel A. Smith, University Hospitals Case Medical CenterFollow
Jonathan Pace, University Hospitals Case Medical Center
Mark Corriveau, University of Wisconsin Hospital and ClinicsFollow
Sungho Lee, University Hospitals Case Medical CenterFollow
Peter I. Cha, University of California, Los Angeles
Dhananjay Chatterjee, University of California, Los Angeles
Erica L. Gee, University of California, Los Angeles
Erik N. Mayer, University of California, Los Angeles
Owen J. McBride, University of California, Los Angeles
Allison K. Roe, University of California, Los AngelesFollow
Marisa Y. Yanez, University of California, Los AngelesFollow
D. Alex Stroh, Boston University Medical Center
Khoi D. Than, Oregon Health and Science University
K. Daniel Riew, Columbia University; New York-Presbyterian/The Allen HospitalFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-1-2017

Comments

This article has been peer reviewed. It is the author’s final published version in Global Spine Journal

Volume 7, Issue 1, April 2017, Pages 64S-70S.

The published version is available at DOI: 10.1177/2192568216688189. Copyright © Thompson et al.

Abstract

STUDY DESIGN: A multicenter, retrospective review of C5 palsy after cervical spine surgery.

OBJECTIVE: Postoperative C5 palsy is a known complication of cervical decompressive spinal surgery. The goal of this study was to review the incidence, patient characteristics, and outcome of C5 palsy in patients undergoing cervical spine surgery.

METHODS: We conducted a multicenter, retrospective review of 13 946 patients across 21 centers who received cervical spine surgery (levels C2 to C7) between January 1, 2005, and December 31, 2011, inclusive. P values were calculated using 2-sample t test for continuous variables and χ(2) tests or Fisher exact tests for categorical variables.

RESULTS: Of the 13 946 cases reviewed, 59 patients experienced a postoperative C5 palsy. The incidence rate across the 21 sites ranged from 0% to 2.5%. At most recent follow-up, 32 patients reported complete resolution of symptoms (54.2%), 15 had symptoms resolve with residual effects (25.4%), 10 patients did not recover (17.0%), and 2 were lost to follow-up (3.4%).

CONCLUSION: C5 palsy occurred in all surgical approaches and across a variety of diagnoses. The majority of patients had full recovery or recovery with residual effects. This study represents the largest series of North American patients reviewed to date.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Share

COinS