Table 4.

Comparison of Published Studies on the Effects of Timing of Decompression on AMS at Least 6 Months after tCSCI in Patients with ATCCS Caused by SSDOC Adjusted for Morphometric Neuroimaging, Surgical Technique, and the Extent of Decompression

Investigator year journal	D	Cohort	Outcome	SSDOC	NO SSS	MCC	Level of MSCC	# of MRI signal	Surg. Tech.	PO MRI	IMLL	Extent of DEC	F/U m	F/U m	Effect of timing
Guest et al. 2002 J. Neurosurg.	R	50	PSIMFS	24	NM	NM	NM	NM	Y	NM	NM	NM	13	≤24: 6 >24: 18	No effect
Lenehan et al. 2010 Spine (Phila PA 1976)	R	73	AMS	73	NM	NM	NM	NM	Y	NM	NM	NM	6	<24: 17 >24: 56	Early better
Aarabi et al. 2011 J. Neurosurg. Spine	R	42	AMS	42	M	Y	Y	NM	Y	Y	Y	NM	12	≤24:9 24-48: 10 > 48: 23	No effect
Anderson et al. 2012 Am. J. Orthop. (Belle Mead NJ)	R	69	AMS	31	NM	NM	NM	NM	Y	NM	NM	NM	≥6	≤24: 14 24-48: 30 >48: 25	No effect
Aarabi et al. 2021 J. Neurotrauma	R	101	AMS	101	M	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	≥6	≤24: 36 25-72:38 > 72: 27	No effect

AMS, American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) motor score; tCSCI, traumatic cervical spinal cord injury; ATCCS, acute traumatic central cord syndrome; D, design; DEC, decompression; F/U, follow-up; IMLL, intramedullary lesion length; m, months, M, mentioned, MCC, maximum canal compromise; MSCC, maximum spinal cord compression; MRI, magnetic resonance imaging; NM, not mentioned; NO, number; SSS, spinal stenosis segments; PO, post-operative, PSIMFS, Post-Spinal Injury Motor Function Scale; R, retrospective; Surg. Tech., surgical technique, SSDOC, spinal stenosis disc/osteophyte complex; Y, yes,