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Updated: Aug 23, 2026

A Murine Model of Cervical Spinal Cord Injury to Study Post-lesional Respiratory Neuroplasticity
Published on: May 28, 2014
A subclinical impairment of ventilatory function in cervical spondylotic myelopathy
Takuo Nomura1, Toshikazu Tani, Kenichi Kitaoka
1Departments of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Kochi Medical School, Kohasu Oko-cho Nankoku City, Kochi 783-8505, Japan.
Objective:
To evaluate the ventilatory function in patients with cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM).
Design:
Prospective cohort study.
Setting:
Medical school in Japan.
Participants:
Thirty-seven consecutive patients with CSM.
Interventions:
All the patients had surgical intervention for mild to moderate spastic limb paresis.
Main Outcome Measures:
Analysis of the maximum voluntary ventilation (MVV) in addition to routine spirometry before and after surgical decompression. Functional assessment was made by using the Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) Scale.
Results:
The MVV (% predicted) increased significantly (P<.002) from 77%+/-19% preoperatively to 84%+/-20% postoperatively. None of the other routine spirometric data (ie, vital capacity, forced vital capacity, forced expired volume in 1 second, peak expiratory flow rate) increased significantly. According to the JOA score, tetraparesis improved significantly (P<.0001) from 8.3+/-3.2 preoperatively to 11.4+/-3.0 postoperatively. The ratio of postoperative to preoperative MVV showed a significant correlation (r=.538, P<.002) with that of the JOA score.
Conclusions:
MVV provides a useful measure for monitoring ventilatory impairment in patients with myelopathy.
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