Comparative analysis on the diagnosis and treatments of multisegment intramedullary spinal cord tumors between the different age groups.

Multisegment intramedullary spinal cord tumors (MSICT) are a special type of spinal cord tumor. Up to now, no comparative clinical study of MSICT has been performed according to different age groups. Seventy-seven patients underwent microsurgery for MSICT. As grouped with two different methods, the parametric and nonparametric data of MSICT and patients were comparatively analyzed using statistically correlative methods. Forty-eight patients were males and 29 were females, ranging in age from 4 to 64 years (mean, 32.9 years). Among the six groups, being divided with intervals of 10 years, the whole difference in the initial symptoms of patients (Z = 17.4, P = 0.004) and in the histological classification of tumors (Z = 12.5, P = 0.03) was statistically significant, respectively. Neurodevelopmental tumor and benign glioma predominated in adolescents and decreased in frequency into adulthood where ependymoma became more predominant. In the 25 years old grouping method, there were 27 adolescent and 50 adult patients. The difference in initial symptoms of patients (Z = -2.08, P = 0.04) was statistically significant between the two groups. Pain with motor weakness and gait deterioration predominated in adolescents and decreased in frequency into adulthood where sensory disturbances became more predominant.