Prognostic Value of Age and Early Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Patients with Cervical Subaxial Spinal Cord Injuries

Background and Objective: The predictive role of a patient's age in spinal cord injury (SCI) is still unclear given the coexistence of potential confounding factors, whether clinical or radiological. Thus, it is the aim of this work to assess the prognostic role of a patient's age against initial radiological features in a traumatic cervical SCI population. Methods: Clinical and radiological data from patients with acute traumatic cervical SCI and a first MRI performed within 48 h of trauma were retrospectively reviewed. Patients were dichotomized according to the length intramedullary lesion, and associations between age and other clinical or radiological prognostic variables were analyzed. The receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to test the discriminative capacity of the patient age to predict neurological and functional outcomes. Poor functional outcome was defined as a Walking Index Spinal Cord Injury score Results: 134 patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria and were analyzed. The mean age was 43 years, with a male/female ratio of 4:1. polytrauma and soft tissue injuries were inversely proportional to patient age (P Conclusions: Patient age is an important prognostic factor in patients with traumatic cervical SCI. Fifty-five years is the critical cutoff associated with poor prognostic outcome.