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- Page navigation anchor for Cervical myelopathy is probably, actually quite commonCervical myelopathy is probably, actually quite commonPrimary care is crucial to the detection of cervical myelopathy and as the recent educational article highlights, this is not straightforward given their non-specific and variable features.The authors report that cervical myelopathy is rare.That is probably incorrect, as we will outline. At present, we can only quote ‘operative incidence’, but not all patients undergo an operation and not all receive a diagnosis.1 So we don’t know how common this condition is for sure, but the following studies would suggest it is anything but rare:
- Undiagnosed cervical myelopathy was found in 18% of neck of femur fracture patients.2
- In a series of randomly selected 40-80 year olds receiving cervical MRI scans, incidental cord compression was present in 59% and 1% were subsequently diagnosed with cervical myelopathy.3
- In a different series, 22% of individuals with asymptomatic cord compression on MRI went on to develop symptomatic myelopathy within a median of 3.6 years (range 0.7-8.9).4
If these numbers are truly generalizable, the prevalence of myelopathy could be as high as 5% in over 40s.Detecting myelopathy early is key, as delays lead to poorer outcomes (as the spinal cord cannot repair the existing damage). Recent meta-analyses have shown tr...Show MoreCompeting Interests: None declared.