• Kosei Nagata, Junya Miyahara, Keiichiro Tozawa, Yusuke Ito, Grant Schmidt, Chang Chang, Katsuyuki Sasaki, Yukimasa Yamato, Nozomu Ohtomo, Koji Nakajima, So Kato, Toru Doi, Yuki Taniguchi, Yoshitaka Matsubayashi, Masahiko Sumitani, Sakae Tanaka, and Yasushi Oshima.
• Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Spinal Surgery, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
• World Neurosurg. 2023 Aug 1; 176: e391e399e391-e399.

BackgroundThe painDETECT questionnaire (PDQ) is one of the available screening tools for neuropathic pain (NeP), with a cut-off score of 13. This study aimed to investigate changes in PDQ scores in patients undergoing posterior cervical decompression surgery for degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM).MethodsPatients with DCM undergoing cervical laminoplasty or laminectomy with posterior fusion were recruited. They were asked to complete a booklet questionnaire including PDQ and Numerical Rating Scales (NRS) for pain at baseline and one year after surgery. Patients with a preoperative PDQ score ≥13 were further investigated.ResultsA total of 131 patients (mean age = 70.1 years; 77 male and 54 female) were analyzed. After posterior cervical decompression surgery for DCM, mean PDQ scores decreased from 8.93 to 7.28 (P = 0.008) in all patients. Of the 35 patients (27%) with preoperative PDQ scores ≥13, mean PDQ changed from 18.83 to 12.09 (P < 0.001). Comparing the NeP improved group (17 patients with postoperative PDQ scores ≤12) with the NeP residual group (18 patients with postoperative PDQ scores ≥13), the NeP improved group showed less preoperative neck pain (2.8 vs. 4.4, P = 0.043) compared to the NeP residual group. There was no difference in the postoperative satisfaction rate between the two groups.ConclusionsApproximately 30% of patients exhibited preoperative PDQ scores ≥13, and about half of these patients demonstrated improvements to below to the cut-off value for NeP after posterior cervical decompression surgery. The PDQ score change was relatively associated with preoperative neck pain.Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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