ArticleEuropean spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society2021
Preoperative electrophysiologic assessment of C5-innervated muscles in predicting C5 palsy after posterior cervical decompression.
Article in European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- Risk factors for C5 nerve root palsy following posterior cervical spinal canal expansion and reconstruction: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2026Pooled it
- Cervical scoliosis surgery: understanding neurological complications and defining prevention strategies. A biomechanical study and narrative review.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2026Review
- Biceps strength drop at diagnosis is associated with deltoid strength recovery in severe postoperative C5 palsy: a retrospective cohort study.Frontiers in surgery · 2026Article
- [Cause analysis and clinical intervention of CZhongguo xiu fu chong jian wai ke za zhi = Zhongguo xiufu chongjian waike zazhi = Chinese journal of reparative and reconstructive surgery · 2024Review
- Bilateral phrenic nerve palsy after posterior cervical decompression and fusion surgery: a rare event after surgery.Spinal cord series and cases · 2023Article
- Posterior Preventive Foraminotomy before Laminectomy Combined with Pedicle Screw Fixation May Decrease the Incidence of C5 Palsy in Complex Cervical Spine Surgery in Patients with Severe Myeloradiculopathy.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Article
- Preoperative dynamic quantitative sensory testing in remote pain-free areas is associated with axial pain after posterior cervical spinal surgeries.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2022Observational
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeTo investigate the feasibility of both needle electromyography (EMG) and proximal nerve conduction studies (NCS) in predicting C5 palsy after posterior cervical decompression.
methodsThis study included 192 patients with cervical myelopathy undergoing laminoplasty or laminectomy. Preoperatively, all patients accepted bilateral needle EMG detection and proximal NCS that consisted of supramaximally stimulating Erb's point and recording compound muscle action potential (CMAP) from bilateral deltoid.
resultsIn the present study, 11 (11/192, 5.7%) patients developed unilateral C5 palsy after operation, and more patients with C5 palsy showed abnormal spontaneous activity in C5-innervated muscles compared to those without C5 palsy (8/11 vs. 16/181, p < 0.05). The sensitivity and specificity of spontaneous activity in C5-innervated muscles in predicting postoperative C5 palsy were 72.7% and 91.2%, respectively. Furthermore, there were significant left-to-right differences of deltoid CMAP amplitudes between the patients with and without C5 palsy (p < 0.05), and this measurement was also demonstrated to be useful for distinguishing patients with C5 palsy from cases without C5 palsy by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis (cut-off value: 2.1 mV, sensitivity: 63.6%; specificity: 95.0%). In addition, the sensitivity and specificity of a series application of these two measurements were 63.6% and 100.0%, respectively.
conclusionsThe findings of this study support the hypothesis that pre-existing progressive C5 root injury may be a risk factor for C5 palsy after posterior cervical decompression. Clinically, the estimation of NCS and needle EMG in C5-innervated muscles may provide additional useful information for predicting C5 palsy after cervical spinal surgery. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE I: Diagnostic: individual cross-sectional studies with the consistently applied reference standard and blinding.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.