Increased Change in Cervical Lordosis Is Associated With Decreased Rate of Recovery in Patients With C5 Palsy

A retrospective chart review.

The authors aim to investigate the role of clinical and radiographic parameters in patients who underwent posterior cervical surgery, and their association with C5 palsy severity and time to recovery.

Postoperative C5 palsy affects 1%-30% of patients undergoing posterior decompression, with or without fusion. Causation and avoidance of this complication remain widely debated.

A single institution review of patients who underwent posterior cervical spine surgery was focused on using specific Common Procedural Technology codes associated with the patient population of interest. Patients were excluded if they had inadequate pre and postoperative imaging, as well as a history of prior cervical spine surgery, concurrent anterior surgery, intradural pathology, spinal tumor, or spinal trauma. Radiographic measurements of the pre and postoperative images were completed with subsequent intraclass correlation coefficient analysis to confirm the precision of measurements.

Out of 105 total patients, 35 (33%) patients developed a C5 palsy. Twenty-four (69%) of those palsies completely resolved, with a median time to recovery of 8 months. Preoperative demographics and radiographic parameters demonstrated heterogeneity among those patients who did and did not have a resolution of palsy. Patients with increased change in C2-C7 lordosis ( P = 0.011) after surgery were associated with decreased likelihood of recovery. Patients without a smoking history ( P = 0.009) had an increased likelihood of recovering from C5 palsy.

The degree of increased lordosis in the treatment of degenerative cervical disease plays a role in the rate of recovery from C5 palsy. This should be considered during preoperative planning in determining the amount of lordosis desired. In addition, patients without a smoking history were associated with a higher rate of recovery.

Level IV.