Clinical outcomes of early surgical treatment for cervical spinal cord injury without fracture and dislocation

Objective To explore the clinical outcomes of early surgical treatment(≤72 h) for cervical spinal cord injury without fracture and dislocation.Methods From January 2006 to December 2007,32 cases of cervical spinal cord injury without fracture and dislocation were treated surgically and divided into early surgical treatment group(≤72 h) with 17 cases and delayed surgical treatment group(72 h) with 15 cases.JOA scores at the injury,after the surgery and during the follow-up were recorded to make a comparison between the 2 groups.Results The increase of JOA scores were obvious in both groups after treatment(P0.05).But the clinical outcomes of early surgical treatment were obvious better than those of delayed surgical treatment(P0.05).Conclusion Early surgical treatment is superior to delayed surgical treatment for cervical spinal cord injury without fracture and dislocation,so the surgical treatment should be carried out as early as possible(≤72 h).