Table 3.
Associations between investigated factors and regain of ambulatory status after treatment
| Factor | Subgroup (n) | Regaining ambulatory status, n (%) | p value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age | ≤ 65 years (190) | 11 (6) | 0.62 |
| > 65 years (185) | 13 (7) | ||
| Interval FD to MSCC | ≤ 15 months (261) | 15 (6) | 0.43 |
| > 15 months (114) | 9 (8) | ||
| Visceral metastases | No (90) | 9 (10) | 0.11 |
| Yes (285) | 15 (5) | ||
| Further bone metastases | No (78) | 4 (5) | 0.80 |
| Yes (297) | 20 (7) | ||
| Primary tumor type | Breast cancer (31) | 1 (3) | < 0.001 |
| Prostate cancer (61) | 3 (5) | ||
| Myeloma/lymphoma (15) | 5 (33) | ||
| Lung cancer (116) | 8 (7) | ||
| Other malignancies (152) | 7 (5) | ||
| Sex | Female (112) | 9 (8) | 0.40 |
| Male (263) | 15 (6) | ||
| Time developing motor deficits | 0–7 days (251) | 7 (3) | < 0.0001 |
| 8–14 days (71) | 7 (10) | ||
| > 14 days (53) | 10 (19) | ||
| ECOG performance score | 1–2 (4) | 1 (25) | 0.23 |
| 3–4 (371) | 23 (6) | ||
| Number of affected vertebrae | 1–2 (113) | 12 (11) | 0.028 |
| ≥ 3 (262) | 12 (5) | ||
| Radiotherapy regimen | 1 × 8 Gy/5 × 4 Gy (168) | 8 (5) | 0.24 |
| 5 × 5 Gy/longer-course RT (207) | 16 (8) | ||
| Entire cohort | N = 375 | 24 (6) |
FD First diagnosis of malignancy, MSCC Metastatic spinal cord compression, ECOG Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group, RT Radiotherapy
p values were calculated with the Chi-square test or the Fisher’s exact test (for n < 5). When applying Bonferroni adjustment, p values of < 0.005 were considered significant and are given in bold