Clinical efficacy and prognosis of the large dose methylprednisolone impulse therapy in combination with the surgery in treatment of the spine trauma complicated with the spinal cord injury

Abstract

It is aimed to investigate the clinical efficacy and prognosis of large-dose methylprednisolone impulse therapy in combination with the surgery in treatment of the spinal damage complicated with the spinal cord injury. A retrospective analysis was conducted over the clinical data of 90 spine damage patients complicated with the spinal cord injury who underwent the surgical treatment in this hospital between October 2015 and September 2018. In the control group, patients only took the surgical treatment, while those in the observation group adopted the large-dose methylprednisolone impulse therapy. Following treatment, the improvement of vertebral body, Harris score, self-care ability of daily living and the overall effective rate of treatment were evaluated in two groups. In the observation group, the compression height of the anterior vertebral edge was (6.64±2.20) mm, the compression height of the posterior vertebral edge was (5.86±2.63) mm, and the Cobb’s angle was (8.62±2.51), which were significantly improved when compared with those in the control group, and the differences had statistical significance (t=21.75, 11.37 or 12.64; p<0.05). In the observation group, patients also had a higher Harris score (66.11±3.97) points than their counterparts in the control group (5.68±2.26) points (t=83.42; p< 0.05). Besides, the scores of the self-care ability of daily life [Dressing: (8.91±2.33) points; diet: (8.63±2.47) points; walking: (14.33±2.96) points; moving ability of the bed or chair: (13.11±2.97) points; control of defecation: (15.34±4.70) points] in the observation group were all higher than the control group [Dressing: (3.54±2.60) points; diet: (3.16±2.11) points; walking: (1.62±3.11) points; moving ability of the bed or chair: (1.74±3.20) points; control of defecation (2.86±6.12) points] (t=9.69, 10.61, 18.67, 16.42 and 10.22; p< 0.05). In the observation group, the total effective rate of treatment was 95.56 %, also significantly higher than 80.00 % in the control group (χ2 = 4.113, p<0.05). After the large-dose methylprednisolone impulse therapy in combination with the surgical treatment, spine-damaged patients with the spinal cord injury gain the promising improvement in the vertebra and prognosis, significantly enhancing the self-care ability of daily life, with recovery in the nerve function and muscle strength. Thus, this strategy is worthy of being promoted in clinical practice.