Delayed Neurological Deficits after Osteoporotic Vertebral Fractures: Clinical Outcomes after Surgery

Retrospective cohort. To review the clinical presentation of operated patients with delayed neurological deficits after osteoporotic vertebral fractures (OVFs). Delayed neurological deficits can occur from 1 week to 5.7 months after OVFs. Baba has reported 78% good-to-excellent improvement (i.e., ≥50%) after 20 posterior (Cotrel-Dubousset) and 7 anterior (Kaneda in 4, Zielke ventral derotational spondylodesis in 2, and un-instrumented anterior fusion in 1) fusions. Predictive factors for neurological deficits include burst type, vacuum sign, kyphosis, angular instability, and retropulsion. Patients with neurological deficits after OVF who received spinal operations between 2000 and 2016 were included. Totally, 28 patients with a mean age of 77 years underwent surgery. Neurological deficits occurred at an average of 5.4 weeks after the onset of back pain. The most common site was L1. Burst fracture was present in 14 patients and vacuum sign in seven. Surgery was performed within an average of 3.9 days of the onset of neurological deficit. Baba's score improved significantly from 5.96 to 9.81, with good-to-excellent improvement in 18 (64%) patients. Better outcomes based on Baba's scores (improvement>60% [median]) were associated with compression fractures, preoperative retropulsion of 16%. Poor improvement in Baba's scores (