Predictors of Residual Neck/Shoulder Symptom Following Surgery for Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy: A Multicenter Prospective Cohort Study.

Authors

Toshiki Okubo, Narihito Nagoshi, Junichi Yamane, Hitoshi Kono, Yoshiomi Kobayashi, Reo Shibata, Takahiro Kitagawa, Kanehiro Fujiyoshi, Norihiro Isogai, Takahito Iga, Kazuki Takeda, Masahiro Ozaki, Satoshi Suzuki, Morio Matsumoto, Masaya Nakamura, Kota Watanabe

Published in

Spine. Sep 01, 2026. Epub Sep 01, 2026.

Abstract

Prospective multicenter cohort study.
To determine the prevalence of residual neck/shoulder pain or stiffness after surgery for degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM) and identify the factors associated with the persistence of these symptoms.
Neck/shoulder pain or stiffness is common in patients with DCM and may persist despite surgical treatment. However, the factors associated with the persistence of these symptoms remain unclear.
A total of 612 patients with preoperative neck/shoulder pain or stiffness who underwent surgery for DCM were included in this study. Residual neck/shoulder symptoms were defined as a visual analog scale (VAS) score of > 30 mm at 2 years after surgery. Demographic characteristics, radiographic findings, surgical variables, neurological function, and patient-reported outcome measures were compared between patients with and without residual neck/shoulder symptoms. Binary logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the independent predictors of residual neck/shoulder symptoms. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to determine the optimal preoperative VAS score threshold.
Residual neck/shoulder pain or stiffness was observed in 416 (68.0%) patients at 2 years postoperatively. Multivariable analysis demonstrated that women (OR 1.780, 95% CI 1.152-2.751; P=0.009), duration of neurological symptoms (OR 1.011, 95% CI 1.004-1.018; P=0.002), and preoperative neck/shoulder VAS scores (OR 1.231, 95% CI 1.114-1.360; P<0.001) were independently associated with residual symptoms. ROC analysis identified a preoperative VAS score of 60 mm as the optimal threshold for predicting residual symptoms (area under the curve, 0.653; sensitivity, 62.7%; specificity, 65.8%).
Women, prolonged neurological symptom duration, and greater preoperative symptom severity were independently associated with persistent postoperative neck/shoulder symptoms. These findings may inform preoperative counseling regarding the likelihood of persistent neck/shoulder symptoms after surgery for DCM.
II.

PMID:
42704808
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 08 Sep 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.