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Stress Distribution of the Spinal Cord and Clinical Relevance in Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy

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Abstract

Intramedullary stress was analyzed in patients with cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) using a finite element method (FEM). A total of 99 disc levels of 30 patients with CSM were analyzed and divided into two groups: 33 disc levels with high signal intensity (HSI) on T2WI MRI (HSI group) and 66 disc levels without HSI (non-HSI group). Ninety disc levels of 30 patients without myelopathy were set up as a control group. The stress in the HSI group was significantly highest among three groups. The cutoff value to present HSI was 2.30 kPa from a receiver operator characteristics (ROC) analysis. A multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to compare the utility of the three parameters as prognosticators for the onset of myelopathy: intramedullary stress, the cross-sectional area of the spinal cord, and the anteroposterior compression ratio (APCR). Intramedullary stress had the highest odds ratio. The intramedullary stress significantly reduced after surgery. From the analysis of the correlation between the local kyphosis angle and the reduction of the stress after surgery in HSI group, the higher the kyphosis was, the less the reduction of the stress after surgery. In conclusion, intramedullary stress reflected clinical manifestations in patients with CSM.

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Conflict of Interest  The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Correspondence to Hiroshi Ozawa .

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© 2014 Springer Japan

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Takahashi, K., Ozawa, H., Sakamoto, N., Minegishi, Y., Sato, M., Itoi, E. (2014). Stress Distribution of the Spinal Cord and Clinical Relevance in Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy. In: Uchida, K., Nakamura, M., Ozawa, H., Katoh, S., Toyama, Y. (eds) Neuroprotection and Regeneration of the Spinal Cord. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-54502-6_25

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-54502-6_25

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Tokyo

  • Print ISBN: 978-4-431-54501-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-4-431-54502-6

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