Prognostic Factors of Surgery for Cervical Cord Tumors

Background: Spinal cord tumors represent 10% to 15% of central nervous system (CNS)neoplasms. In adults, two thirds of these tumors are extramedullary and the remainingthird are intramedullary. Objective: We aimed to outline the prognostic factors thataffect the final outcome of cervical cord tumor surgeries. Patients and Methods: Sixtyone patients with cervical spinal cord tumors underwent surgery between march 2009and march 2014. The neurological status before surgery, 1 month after the operationand at the most recent examination were assessed based on the grading system ofMcCormick outcome. The 61 patients, divided according to the histopathologicaldiagnosis. Results: There were 22 ependymoma (36.1%), 13 Scwannoma (21.3%), 12Meningioma (19.7%), 6 Neurofibroma (9.8%), 3 Astrocytoma (4.9%) and 5 otherpathologies collectively (8.2%). In this study there was 75% of patients with totalresection, 11.4% had subtotal and 13.1% had partial resection or biopsy. Thirty sevenpatients was improved (60.7%), thirteen patients with no change (21.3%), ten patientsdeteriorated (16.4%) and one died (1.6%). By statistical analysis, there was significantcorrelation between postoperative outcome and the tumor grade (P=0.015), the less thegrade the better outcome .We found a significant correlation between the pre-operativestate and the final functional outcome, that, the better the preoperative state the betteroutcome. There is statistically relevant correlation between the recurrence and thedegree of resection. Conclusion: The spinal cord tumors can be treated safely andeffectively by surgery. Total resection must be the essential aim before surgery.Preoperative neurological state, pathological type, pathological grades, and degree ofresection are the most important factors that affect the final outcome.