The impact of postoperative cerebrospinal fluid drainage on neurological improvement following thoracic aortic and thoracoabdominal aortic surgery

This study investigates the effectiveness of postoperative cerebrospinal fluid drainage (CSFD) in improving neurological outcomes for patients who experience paraplegia after thoracic aortic and thoracoabdominal aortic surgery. The study retrospectively analyzed data from 85 patients who underwent CSFD, focusing on neurological changes observed after surgery. The outcomes of patients who received postoperative CSFD were compared to those who received preoperative CSFD. The findings suggest that postoperative CSFD can improve neurological prognosis, as indicated by improvements in MMT scores. However, a significant portion of patients did not experience improvement despite CSFD.

• 1
  Postoperative CSFD improved MMT scores compared with preoperative CSFD, indicating neurological improvement in patients undergoing thoracic aortic and thoracoabdominal aortic surgery.
• 2
  25% of patients who underwent early postoperative CSFD remained paraplegic without any improvement, suggesting that CSFD is not universally effective.
• 3
  The 5-year survival rate was 0% in the paraplegia group and 55% in the no paraplegia group, indicating that paraplegia is associated with poor long-term survival.