The impact of ossification spread on cervical spine function in patients with ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament

Abstract Ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL) is a progressive disease. The bridging of ossified lesions to the vertebral body gradually increases, thereby decreasing the mobility of the cervical spine; thus, cervical spine function may decrease over time. However, cervical spi...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Keiichi Katsumi, Takashi Hirai, Toshitaka Yoshii, Satoshi Maki, Kanji Mori, Narihito Nagoshi, Soraya Nishimura, Kazuhiro Takeuchi, Shuta Ushio, Takeo Furuya, Kei Watanabe, Norihiro Nishida, Kota Watanabe, Takashi Kaito, Satoshi Kato, Katsuya Nagashima, Masao Koda, Kenyu Ito, Shiro Imagama, Yuji Matsuoka, Kanichiro Wada, Atsushi Kimura, Tetsuro Ohba, Hiroyuki Katoh, Yukihiro Matsuyama, Hiroshi Ozawa, Hirotaka Haro, Katsushi Takeshita, Masahiko Watanabe, Morio Matsumoto, Masaya Nakamura, Masashi Yamazaki, Atsushi Okawa, Yoshiharu Kawaguchi
Format: article
Language:EN
Published: Nature Portfolio 2021
Subjects:
R
Q
Online Access:https://doaj.org/article/62676c2207cf4ef7831d9bb703852e7d
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Abstract Ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL) is a progressive disease. The bridging of ossified lesions to the vertebral body gradually increases, thereby decreasing the mobility of the cervical spine; thus, cervical spine function may decrease over time. However, cervical spine function in patients with cervical OPLL has not been evaluated in large prospective studies. Therefore, we conducted a prospective multicenter study to clarify whether ossification spread can influence cervical spine function and quality of life (QOL) in patients with cervical OPLL. In total, 238 patients (162 men, 76 women; mean age, 63.9 years) were enrolled from 16 institutions. Each patient underwent whole spine computed tomography and was evaluated for cervical spine function and QOL using the Japanese Orthopaedic Association Cervical Myelopathy Evaluation Questionnaire (JOACMEQ). In the multivariate regression analysis, a higher neck VAS score and a larger number of bridge formations of OPLL in the whole spine were significant predictors of adverse outcomes related to cervical spine function. This is the first prospective multicenter study to reveal the impact of ossification spread on cervical spine function. These findings are important to understand the natural course of OPLL and can serve as controls when evaluating postoperative cervical spine function.