Predictors of functional outcomes following spinal meningioma surgery. A single-center retrospective experience of 59 cases

•Surgery for spinal meningiomas yields a good functional outcome regardless of patients’ age.•Frailty in patients did not interfere with good functional outcomes.•Poor functional outcome was correlated with radiological and surgical factors.•Poor preoperative functional status did not correlate with poor postoperative outcomes.•Male sex and tumor partial removal were significant predictors of worse functional outcomes. To better predict the postoperative functional outcomes of patients operated on for a spinal meningioma, we assessed: 1) the prevalence of good and poor postoperative functional outcomes following surgery; 2) the impact of age and frailty on postoperative functional outcomes. In this retrospective cohort study, we screened adult patients operated on for a spinal meningioma from 2005 to 2022. Inclusion criteria were: 1) patients ≥18 years; 2) histopathological diagnosis of meningioma; 3) location to the cervical, thoracic or lumbar spine (foramen magnum meningioma excluded); 4) surgery as first-line treatment; and 5) available postoperative follow-up ≥1 year. Clinical outcomes were assessed using the modified McCormick scale preoperatively and at one-year of postoperative follow-up. In this single institution experience of 59 cases, we found that: 1) surgical resection positively impacts patients’ functional outcomes, 91.2% either showing an improved or maintained good postoperative neurological status defined by a modified McCormick scale score ≤ II; 2) a good modified McCormick scale status was achieved in 84.2% of patients at one postoperative year; 3) 87.5% of patients who were not improved postoperatively maintained an overall good neurological status defined by a modified McCormick scale score ≤ II; and 4) frail or aged patients were not at a higher risk of poor postoperative functional outcomes. Surgical resection positively impacts outcomes of patients operated for a spinal meningioma. Sex, presence of a meningioma-related myelopathy, extent of resection, and occurrence of surgery-related postoperative complications, but not age or frailty, predict postoperative functional outcomes.