Influence of minor trauma on surgical results in patients with cervical OPLL

This study was designed to evaluate the relationship between minor trauma and surgical results of cervical ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL), focusing on static compressive and dynamic factors contributing to cord compression plus the type of attendant OPLL. Of the 91 patients treated surgically, 26 had sustained minor trauma (injury group), and the other 65 had no trauma (noninjury group). The pre-/postoperative JOA scores and recovery ratio for the injury group were significantly lower than those for the noninjury group. In the segmental, localized, and mixed types, which had good ranges of motion of the cervical spine, the recovery ratios of the injury group were significantly lower than those of the noninjury group. In the continuous type, which had a poor range of motion and severe spinal cord compression, there was no significant difference in the recovery ratio between the injury and noninjury groups. Thus, dynamic factors may play an important role in neurologic deterioration after minor trauma in patients with segmental, mixed, and localized cervical OPLL.