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More functional disability seen in Japanese patients with RA who have cervical spine surgery
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Patients with rheumatoid arthritis who undergo cervical spine surgery had higher disease activity and were more functionally disabled than patients in a control group, according to results of a recently published study.
Shurei Sugita, MD, and colleagues examined data from the National Database of Rheumatic Diseases by iR-net in Japan for the fiscal years 2003 to 2011 and included 39 patients of 60 patients who underwent cervical spine surgery for a rheumatoid arthritis (RA)-related cause. They only included patients who had data available for 2 consecutive years and excluded patients who required surgery for a reason unrelated to RA.
In the study group, Sugita and colleagues reported fusion surgery was the most frequently performed surgery with 29 patients (74.4%) undergoing the procedure. Laminoplasty was the second most frequently performed procedure, with 4 patients (10.25%) undergoing the procedure.
Sugita and colleagues found patients with RA who underwent cervical spine surgery had a higher disease activity than the matched control patients with RA, and the proportion of all patients who used biologics increased linearly during the study period. However, the investigators found the number of patients who underwent cervical spine surgery was unchanged during that time.
In the conclusion of the study, Sugita and colleagues noted physicians should evaluate cervical lesions, particularly in patients with high disease activity, in spite of the use of biologics.
Disclosure: The authors reported no relevant financial disclosures.
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