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Surgical outcomes of ventrally located cervical spinal meningiomas

Spinal Cord volume 63, pages 551–556 (2025)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Study design

Retrospective cohort study

Objectives

Ventrally located cervical spinal meningiomas present significant surgical challenges due to their proximity to the spinal cord and nerve roots. This study aimed to evaluate the surgical outcomes of these tumors resected via the posterior approach and to compare them with dorsolaterally located meningiomas.

Setting

The single institution in Japan.

Methods

A retrospective review was conducted on 39 patients who underwent posterior surgical resection of cervical spinal meningiomas between 2008 and 2023, with a minimum follow-up of one year. Patients were classified into ventral (n = 17) and dorsolateral (n = 22) groups based on tumor localization. Neurological function was assessed using the Japanese Orthopedic Association (JOA) score, and surgical outcomes were compared.

Results

The groups had no significant differences in operative time or blood loss. However, nerve root resection was significantly more frequent in the ventral group (41.2 vs. 9.1%, p = 0.02), and perioperative complications and intraoperative motor-evoked potential amplitude reduction (35.3 vs. 4.5%, p = 0.03) were more common (41.2 vs. 13.6%, p = 0.06). Although postoperative JOA scores were lower in the ventral group (14.6 ± 0.6 vs. 16.4 ± 0.3, p = 0.01), both groups showed significant postoperative improvement compared to preoperative scores (p < 0.01).

Conclusions

Despite the higher risk of nerve root sacrifice and limited neurological recovery associated with the posterior approach, considering the functional improvements from baseline, it remains a viable surgical option for ventrally located cervical meningiomas. Further studies comparing different surgical approaches are needed to optimize treatment strategies.

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Data availability

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

In preparing this manuscript, ChatGPT (OpenAI) and Grammarly (Grammarly Inc.) were used for grammar refinement and typographical error correction. These tools were employed exclusively to improve clarity and readability, without modifying the scientific content or interpretation of the findings.

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Keio University School of Medicine, 35 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 160-8582, Japan

    Yuichiro Nishiyama, Narihito Nagoshi, Toshiki Okubo, Masahiro Ozaki, Satoshi Suzuki, Kazuki Takeda, Takahito Iga, Morio Matsumoto, Masaya Nakamura & Kota Watanabe

  2. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Tachikawa Hospital, 4-2-22 Nishikicho, Tachikawa City, Tokyo, 190-8531, Japan

    Yuichiro Nishiyama

Authors
  1. Yuichiro Nishiyama
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  2. Narihito Nagoshi
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  3. Toshiki Okubo
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  4. Masahiro Ozaki
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  5. Satoshi Suzuki
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  6. Kazuki Takeda
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  7. Takahito Iga
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  8. Morio Matsumoto
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  9. Masaya Nakamura
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  10. Kota Watanabe
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Contributions

YN and NN designed the research; YN analyzed the data and wrote the paper; NN and MN performed data collection; TO, MO, SS, KT, TI, MM, MN and KW supervised the study; all authors reviewed and approved the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Narihito Nagoshi.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate

This study received ethical approval from the institutional review board of the Ethics Committee of the Keio University School of Medicine (20110142). We certify that all applicable institutional regulations concerning the ethical use of human volunteers were followed during the research. Informed consent was obtained from all participants.

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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Nishiyama, Y., Nagoshi, N., Okubo, T. et al. Surgical outcomes of ventrally located cervical spinal meningiomas. Spinal Cord 63, 551–556 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41393-025-01118-5

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