• Koji Tamai, Hidetomi Terai, Shingo Watanabe, Yoji Tashiro, Toshimitsu Omine, Hiroshi Katsuda, Nagakazu Shimada, Yuto Kobayashi, and Hiroaki Nakamura.
• Department of Orthopedics, Osaka Metropolitan University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan.
• Spine. 2023 Oct 1; 48 (19): 136513721365-1372.

Study DesignProspective cohort study.ObjectiveTo identify the effects of multidisciplinary approaches (MAs) to improve social functioning (SF) on 1-year surgical outcomes in patients with cervical myelopathy.Summary Of Background DataDespite significant improvement in cervical myelopathy, a patient's quality of life (QOL) sometimes does not improve postoperatively. A previous study revealed that SF, rather than myelopathy severity, correlated with QOL improvement after decompression surgery for cervical myelopathy.Patients And MethodsThis study compared two prospective cohorts in Japan. Patients who underwent cervical laminoplasty for cervical myelopathy from 2018 to 2020 were enrolled in the control cohort. Patients who underwent the same surgery with the same indications between 2020 and 2021 were enrolled in the MA cohort. Patients in the control cohort were treated with a standard care protocol, and those in the MA cohort were treated with a multidisciplinary protocol that focused on SF improvement. The changes in the total Japanese Orthopedic Association (JOA) score and in the domains of the JOA scores (upper limb function, lower limb function, upper limb sensory, and lower limb sensory) from preoperatively to 1 year postoperatively were compared between the control and MA cohorts using a mixed-effect model.ResultsThe control and MA cohorts comprised 140 and 31 patients, respectively. The improvement in the JOA score was significantly better in the MA cohort than in the control cohort ( P = 0.040). In analyses of each JOA score domain, the improvement of upper limb function was significantly better in the MA cohort than in the control cohort ( P = 0.033). Similarly, the MA cohort demonstrated significantly higher patient-reported outcomes for upper extremity function than the control cohort ( P < 0.001). In addition, the self-care domain of QOL score at 1 year postoperatively was significantly higher in the MA cohort than in the control cohort ( P = 0.047).ConclusionMAs to improve/rebuild a patient's SF were effective in improving cervical myelopathy and the self-care domain of QOL. This study is the first to demonstrate the effectiveness of postoperative MAs in patients with cervical myelopathy.Level Of EvidenceLevel 3.Copyright © 2023 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

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