Retrospective study of rehabilitation outcomes following spinal cord injury due to tumour.

STUDY DESIGN

Retrospective study.

OBJECTIVES

To examine the rehabilitation outcomes for patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) due to tumour, with a focus on the impact of pain on disability and length of stay (LOS).

SETTING

Public hospital inpatient spinal rehabilitation unit, Melbourne, Australia.

METHODS

Retrospective open-cohort case series of consecutive patients admitted between 1/7/1996 and 30/6/2008 with a diagnosis of recent onset tumour causing SCI.

RESULTS

In all 108 patients were admitted, of whom 62% (n=67) were male. The median age was 61.5 years (interquartile range (IQR) 53.6-74). Most patients had paraplegia (n=97, 89.8%) and a metastatic tumour (n=71, 65.7%) causing their SCI. For patients with a primary tumour the Rasch motor functional independence measure (FIM) gain between admission and discharge (median 17, IQR 4-23) was significantly greater (P=0.006) than for those with secondary tumour (median 7, IQR from -4 to 15). Pain was present in 52% of patients and had a significant adverse influence on the rehabilitation process, with FIM motor efficiencies of 0.09 in patients with documented pain compared with 0.39 in patients without pain (P=0.01). Patients with pain had significantly prolonged median LOS of 56 days (IQR 32.5-84.5) compared with 42 days (IQR 20.5-72.5, P=0.03) without pain.

CONCLUSION

Patients with SCI due to tumour have the potential to benefit from a focused, specialised SCI rehabilitation programme to optimise their outcomes. Careful patient selection, modifying the focus of team goals and a close relationship with treating oncologists and palliative care teams is essential.