Spinal Nerves Schwannomas: Experience on 367 Cases—Historic Overview on How Clinical, Radiological, and Surgical Practices Have Changed over a Course of 60 Years

Table 1

Onset symptoms and postoperative course. In 199 cases of group A, root of origin was sacrificed. In this group, we found a higher percentage of complete postoperative sensitivity (18%) and motor (3%) deficits. In patients of group B, nerve root was almost always preserved when a positive intraoperative response was seen, and postoperative morbidity significantly decreased.

	1951–1991: 226 patients
	Nerve root disturbance				Myelopathy				Sphincteric disturbance: 39 pts (17%)	Pain: 124 pts (55%)
	Motor: 54 pts (24%)		Sensory: 84 pts (37%)		Motor: 27 pts (12%)		Sensory: 24 pts (11%)
	Partial	Complete/severe	Partial	Complete/severe	Partial	Complete/severe	Partial	Complete/severe		Root pain	Back pain
Preoperative	54 (24%)	0	65 (29%)	19 (8%)	27 (12%)	0	23 (10%)	1 (0,4%)	39 (17%)	37 (16%)	87 (62%)
Postoperative
One month	21 (9%)	9 (4%)	13 (6%)	55 (24%)	25 (11%)	0	16 (7%)	1 (0,4%)	28 (12%)	6 (3%)	73 (32%)
Six months	20 (9%)	7 (3%)	10 (4%)	42 (18%)	12 (5%)	0	5 (2%)	1 (0,4%)	28 (12%)	6 (3%)	26 (11%)
One year	20 (9%)	7 (3%)	10 (4%)	42 (18%)	7 (3%)	0	3 (1%)	1 (0,4%)	28 (12%)	6 (3%)	21 (9%)
Five years	20 (9%)	7 (3%)	10 (4%)	42 (18%)	7 (3%)	0	3 (1%)	1 (0,4%)	28 (12%)	6 (3%)	21 (9%)
	1991–2009: 141 patients
	Nerve root disturbance				Myelopathy				Sphincteric disturbance: 11 pts (8%)	Pain: 85 pts (60%)
	Motor: 25 pts (18%)		Sensory: 51 pts (36%)		Motor: 20 pts (14%)		Sensory: 13 pts (9%)
	Partial	Complete/severe	Partial	Complete/severe	Partial	Complete/severe	Partial	Complete/severe		Root pain	Back pain
Preoperative	25 (18%)	0	48 (34%)	3 (2%)	20 (14%)	0	13 (9%)	0	11 (8%)	26 (31%)	59 (69%)
Postoperative
One month	12 (8%)	1 (0.7%)	17 (12%)	8 (11%)	18 (12%)	0	7 (5%)	0	6 (4%)	4 (3%)	41 (29%)
Six months	9 (6%)	1 (0.7%)	6 (9%)	6 (8%)	11 (8%)	0	5 (3%)	0	6 (4%)	3 (2%)	19 (13%)
One year	8 (6%)	1 (0.7%)	4 (3%)	6 (8%)	5 (3%)	0	4 (3%)	0	6 (4%)	3 (2%)	12 (8%)
Five years	8 (6%)	1 (0.7%)	4 (3%)	6 (8%)	5 (3%)	0	4 (3%)	0	6 (4%)	3 (2%)	12 (8%)