A novel scoring system for assessing adult syringomyelia associated with CM I treatment outcomes

A specific scoring system for syringomyelia is lacking. Our objective was to investigate the value of a novel scoring system (Syringomyelia Outcome Scale of Xuanwu hospital, SOS-XW) in assessing surgical outcomes in the treatment of syringomyelia (SM) associated with Chiari malformation type I (CM I).

A quantitative evaluation system (SOS-XW) of SM includes 4 parameters: pain (P), sensation (S), movement (M), and syringomyelia tension index (STI). The clinical data of 88 patients with CM I-related syringomyelia treated by foramen magnum and Magendie dredging (FMMD) from January 2018 to January 2019 were retrospectively analysed with a mean follow-up of 14.3 months, and the SOS-XW score was used to assess the efficacy.

The higher the SOS-XW score, the more severe was the SM and related symptoms. The mean preoperative score was 5.97, and the postoperative score was 2.66. The symptom improvement rates were 77.78% for P, 69.01% for S, 31.82% for M, and 95.06% for the syringomyelia tension index (STI). The symptom improvement rate of the PSM score was weakly correlated with the improvement rate of STI, R² = 0.0016. The percentage of PSM (P + S + M) improvement was lower in patients with an STI of 0. The postoperative SOS-XW score was positively correlated with the postoperative JOA score, R² = 0.8314. The positive detection rate of SOS-XW was higher than that of the JOA score.

To evaluate the surgical procedure efficacy in the treatment of syringomyelia, the SOS-XW score can provide a more objective, detailed, and comprehensive analysis, especially STI. A reduction in STI is the practical standard for assessing the effectiveness of surgery.