A study recently published in Spine examines the impact of delayed surgery after traumatic central cord syndrome.
Around 50 percent of the patients with spinal cord injury syndrome report acute traumatic central cord syndrome. Researchers examined the National Trauma Data Bank Research Data Set from 2011 to 2012. There were 1,060 patients included in the study.
The researchers found:
1. Delayed surgery was associated with lower odds of inpatient mortality after controlling for pre-existing comorbidity and injury severity.
2. There was a 19 percent decrease in the odds of mortality for every 24 hours that passed between the injury and surgery.
3. There was an association between the time of surgery and serious adverse events, but it wasn't statistically significant.
4. The time to surgery increased the odds of minor adverse events.
5. The researchers concluded, "Although the potential neurological effect of surgical timing for patients with ATCCS remains controversial, the decreased mortality with delayed surgery suggests that waiting to optimize general health and potentially allow for some spinal cord recovery in these patients may be advantageous."