Neurology Research International
Volume 2011, Article ID 153628, 7 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2011/153628
Cervical Myelopathy in Rheumatoid Arthritis
Department of Neurosurgery, Regional Neurosciences Center, Royal Victoria Infirmary, Queen Victoria Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4LP, UK
Received 24 July 2011; Accepted 7 September 2011
Academic Editor: Mehmet Zileli
Copyright © 2011 N. Mukerji and N. V. Todd. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Involvement of the cervical spine is common in rheumatoid arthritis. Clinical presentation can be variable, and symptoms may be due to neck pain or compressive myeloradiculopathy. We discuss the pathology, grading systems, clinical presentation, indications for surgery and surgical management of cervical myelopathy related to rheumatoid arthritis in this paper. We describe our surgical technique and results. We recommend early consultation for surgical management when involvement of the cervical spine is suspected in rheumatoid arthritis. Even patients with advanced cervical myelopathy should be discussed for surgical treatment, since in our experience improvement in function after surgery is common.