Quality of Life in Adult Patients Receiving Cervical Fusion for Fresh Subaxial Cervical Injury: The Role of Associated Spinal Cord Injury

PURPOSE: To study postoperative Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) after instrumented fusion for fresh subaxial cervical trauma and the effect of spinal cord injury (SCI). METHODS: From a total of 65 patients, 17 (26%) patients suffered on admission from SCI. Twenty-five patients underwent anterior, 25 posterior, and 15 circumferential cervical surgery for a single cervical injury. Sagittal roentgenographic parameters were measured in 65 age-matched asymptomatic controls and in patients on admission, eight months postoperatively and at final follow-up (lower C(2)-C(7) curvature, cervical sagittal vertical axis (cSVA), spinocranial angle (SCA), T(1)-slope, neck tilt (NT), thorax inlet angle (TIA), cervical tilt (CT), cranial tilt (CrT), and occiput–C(2) angle (C(0)-C(2))). In the last evaluation, SCI patients were compared with their counterparts without SCI using national validated HRQOL instruments (SF-36 and neck disability index (NDI)). RESULTS: Fusion included an average of 3 vertebrae (range 2-4 vertebrae). All 65 patients were followed for an average of 5.5 years, (range 3-7 years) postoperatively. In the last evaluation, 10 (15.4%) patients with incomplete SCI improved postoperatively at 1-2 grades. At the last observation, patients with SCI showed poorer HRQOL scores than their counterparts without SCI. In particular, each SF-36 domain score was correlated with SCA, T(1)-slope, cSVA, and CT. At baseline, patients showed higher NT, CrT, and C0-C2 angle than controls. Eight months postoperatively, cSVA, NT, TIA, and cranial tilt (CrT) were increased in patients. In the last observation, there was difference in the sagittal roentgenographic parameters between patients with SCI compared to those without SCI. Patients aged ≥55 years had postoperatively increased cSVA, NT, and CrT compared to their younger counterparts. CONCLUSION: At the final observation, HRQOL scores were lower in patients with SCI than in their non-SCI counterparts, obviously because of the associated neurologic impairment. SF-36 scores correlated with several sagittal roentgenographic parameters. These correlations should be taken in consideration by spine surgeons when performing cervical spine surgery for fresh cervical spine injuries.