The study was designed to investigate the effect of cerebrospinal fluid leakage (CFSL) on the surgical outcomes of thoracic spinal stenosis (TSS). 153 TSS cases were recruited for this study from January 2012 to December 2017. Preoperative duration of symptoms, neurological status, operative parameters, postoperative courses and neurological recovery were collected. Modified Japanese Orthopedic Association (JOA) score for thoracic myelopathy was used to assess neurological status, and recovery rate was calculated, accordingly. Comparison was between postoperative transient neurological deterioration (PTND) group and Non-PTND group. Cases were further grouped into favorable outcome (FO) (JOA recovery rate ≥25%) and unfavorable outcome (UO) (JOA recovery rate <25%) group, respectively. Further, multivariate logistic regression was performed to verify their relationships. Result showed that seventeen patients (11.1%) developed PTND, while sixty-seven patients (43.8%) developed CSFL. The mean JOA recovery rate was 58.2 ± 35.3%. The incidence of CSFL in PTND group was significantly lower than that in non-PTND group (17.65% vs 47.06%, p = 0.02). Multiple regression analysis showed that CSFL indicated a lower incidence of PTND (B = 1.608, p = 0.03). However, there was no significant difference between the incidence of CSFL in FO group and that of UO group (27.28% vs 46.56%, p = 0.09). In addition, preoperative duration of symptoms, preoperative JOA score and blood loss were associated with the surgical outcomes. The present study found that CSFL was associated with a lower risk of PTND in TSS, which has a certain guiding significance for clinical surgery.

这项研究旨在调查脑脊液漏（CFSL）对胸椎管狭窄（TSS）手术结局的影响。从2012年1月至2017年12月，本研究共招募了153例TSS病例。收集了术前症状持续时间，神经系统状况，手术参数，术后病程和神经系统恢复情况。采用改良的日本骨科协会（JOA）评分评估胸椎脊髓病的神经系统状态，并据此计算恢复率。术后短暂性神经功能恶化（PTND）组与非PTND组进行比较。进一步将病例分为有利结果（FO）（JOA恢复率≥25％）和不利结果（UO）（JOA恢复率<25％）组。进一步，进行多元logistic回归以验证它们之间的关系。结果显示，有17例（11.1％）患PTND，而67例（43.8％）患CSFL。JOA的平均恢复率为58.2±35.3％。PTND组CSFL的发生率显着低于非PTND组（17.65％对47.06％，p  = 0.02）。多元回归分析表明，CSFL提示PTND发生率较低（B = 1.608，p  = 0.03）。但是，FO组和UO组的CSFL发生率之间没有显着差异（27.28％对46.56％，p = 0.09）。此外，术前症状持续时间，术前JOA评分和失血与手术结局相关。本研究发现CSFL与TSS中PTND风险较低有关，这对临床手术具有一定的指导意义。