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Clinical progression of ossification of the ligamentum flavum in thoracic spine: a 10- to 11-year follow-up study

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Abstract

Background

Thoracic ossification of ligamentum flavum (TOLF) can be asymptomatic and progress insidiously. But, long-term follow-up results of clinical progression of TOLF are still unknown.

Methods

The clinical progression of 81 patients with TOLF at our center, followed for 10 to 11 (mean, 10.3) years from May 2010 to November 2021, were analyzed. Among them, 51 patients with thoracic myelopathy were caused by single- or multi-segment TOLF, and received partial TOLF resection (30 patients) or total TOLF resection (21 patients). The remaining 30 patients showed TOLF on imaging examinations, but TOLF was not the responsible compressing factor causing myelopathy and with no TOLF resection. The mJOA score (total 11 scores) and spinal operation were used to evaluate the clinical progression at follow-up.

Results

During the 10- to 11-year follow-up of 81 TOLF patients, 71 (87.7%) had no deterioration of neurological function, and 10 (12.3%) patients had deterioration of neurological function and had another spinal operation, including only 4 (4.9%) suffered thoracic myelopathy caused by the progression of TOLF; 6 (7.4%) for other spinal diseases: 2 (2.5%) had fall damage and acute spinal cord injury at the TOLF level; 2 (2.5%) had thoracic myelopathy caused by ossification of posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL); 2 (2.5%) had cervical spondylosis and received cervical operation.

Conclusions

Most TOLF (87.7%) patients had no clinical progression and received no reoperations for TOLF in the ten-year dimension (mean, 10.3 years). Narrow spinal canal for TOLF increases the risk of traumatic paraplegia.

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Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China, 82102615, Tianqi Fan.

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Author notes

  1. Weishi Li, and Zhongqiang Chen have contributed equally to this article.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopedics, Peking University Third Hospital, 49 North Garden Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100191, People’s Republic of China

    Tianqi Fan, Chuiguo Sun, Shuai Jiang, Weishi Li & Zhongqiang Chen

  2. Engineering Research Center of Bone and Joint Precision Medicine, Ministry of Education, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Tianqi Fan, Weishi Li & Zhongqiang Chen

  3. Beijing Key Laboratory of Spinal Disease Research, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Tianqi Fan, Guanghui Chen, Weishi Li & Zhongqiang Chen

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  1. Tianqi Fan
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Fan, T., Sun, C., Chen, G. et al. Clinical progression of ossification of the ligamentum flavum in thoracic spine: a 10- to 11-year follow-up study. Eur Spine J 32, 495–504 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00586-022-07468-5

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