Research SquareNov 2, 2026, 03:44 GMT

Age not linked to independence in one spinal tumor surgery study

Functional independence reached 88.0% in patients aged 70 or older and 89.5% in younger patients over a median follow-up of 24 months.

Paper by Lucas Ribeiro, Victor Nakache, Kifah Khouri, Nicolas Lonjon · Hôpital Gui de Chauliac

Figure 1. Lumbar MRI in a 75-year-old woman with right L5 radicular pain and paresthesia.Lumbar MRI in a 75-year-old woman with right L5 radicular pain and paresthesia.Ribeiro et al.

Preprint: cohort study of 101 patients undergoing surgery for IDEM tumors, against younger patientsPopulations

103 consecutive patients

Limit: Patients not referred or judged unsuitable for surgery were missing

Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News

Paper

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The retrospective observational study reviewed 103 patients who underwent surgery for tumors that originated inside the spinal cord’s protective covering but outside the cord itself. Patients had a median age of 58; 26 were aged 70 or older and 77 were younger. The single-center study covered operations from 2016 to 2025.

Older patients had worse function before surgery, but age 70 or older was not associated with an unfavorable functional outcome. Across the group, functional independence rose from 68.9% before surgery to 89.1% at last follow-up, a median of 24 months later. Worse function at diagnosis and myelomalacia, a form of spinal cord damage, were linked to unfavorable outcomes. Complications occurred in 10.7%, and no deaths occurred.

Why it matters

The study addressed whether chronological age should guide decisions about spinal tumor surgery in older adults. The authors concluded that age alone should not preclude surgery for the tumor type studied.

Caveats

This retrospective, single-center study included only people who underwent surgery, with just 26 aged 70 or older; it cannot rule out age-related differences in outcomes. The findings come from a preprint that has not been peer-reviewed.

From the paper

Follow-up

Over a median follow-up of 24 months, independence rose from 68.9% to 89.1%.

Results

Result

Only the mRS at diagnosis (OR 3.58 per point, 95% CI 2.02–7.40) and myelomalacia (OR 4.86, 95% CI 1.28–26.52) were associated with an unfavorable outcome; age 70 years or older was not (OR 1.25, 95% CI 0.29–4.48).

Results

Limitation

The retrospective single-center design carries a selection bias: patients not referred or judged unsuitable for surgery were not captured, so our findings apply to operated patients and cannot be generalized to all elderly patients harboring an IDEM tumor.

Limitations

Quoted word for word from the full text on researchsquare.com.