Influence of minor back trauma on surgical outcomes in patients with thoracic ossification of ligamentum flavum

To retrospectively explore the influences of minor back trauma on surgical outcomes in patients with thoracic ossification of ligamentum flavum (TOLF) and preliminarily detect its possible causes. A total of 94 TOLF patients were divided into two groups according to the absence or presence of minor back trauma: MT (minor trauma, n = 16) and NT (no trauma, n = 78). They were compared in terms of gender, age, duration of symptoms, levels of involvement, numbers of involved segments, ratio of intramedullary signal changes (IMSC), pre- & post-operative JOA (Japanese Orthopedic Association) score, recovery rate (RR) at the final follow-up. Multiple regression analysis was employed to elucidate the causes related with the surgical outcomes. The MT group was further divided into two subgroups according to the intervals between trauma and surgery to clarify the influences of surgical timing on the efficacies. The JOA scores were 4.0 ± 1.4 and 8.4 ± 1.7 respectively in MT and NT groups at the final follow-up. The neur