Erratum: Preoperative Scoring and Limits of Prognostication: Functional Outcome after Surgical Decompression in Metastatic Spinal Cord Compression

Objective: To determine whether preoperative parameters correlate with the postoperative functional outcome in para- and tetraplegic patients with lung, kidney, breast and prostate cancer and metastatic spinal cord compression (MSCC). Methods: Information on 43 patients undergoing decompressive surgery and rehabilitation for MSCC was reviewed, including primary tumor, age, pre- and postoperative ambulation status, mobility subcategory of the Spinal Cord Injury Measure (mSCIM) and the Tokuhashi score. Differences between groups were analyzed by the nonparametric χ2 test, and correlation coefficients (Spearman's rho) were computed. Results: Preoperative ambulation (p Conclusion: The postoperative functional outcome of MSCC patients shows a linear association between the categories of the Tokuhashi score and the change in ambulation status. We recommend surgical decompression even in a palliative situation (Tokuhashi score 0-8) with the aim of optimizing the short-term rehabilitation outcome. © 2014 S. Karger AG, Basel