How rare is cauda equina syndrome?
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PainSci notes
Tom Jesson went looking for the origins of the widespread claim that cauda equina syndrome is extremely rare — so rare that a family doctor will see only “one case in their career.” He found very little! It is, “with many degrees of separation, based on a Slovenian paper that probably under-estimates the incidence of CES.” There is not much hard data, but what he found (mostly summed up by Hoeritzauer 2020 suggests that CES is indeed rare, but probably nowhere near that rare: clinicians that help people with musculoskeletal health regularly “can expect to see about a dozen cases of CES.”
It’s important to think through what “rare” means, because rare can either mean “so rare you can practically forget about it” or “rare but there; and you will see it—more than once!”. CES is the latter.
~ Paul Ingraham, PainSci Publisher
Related Content
- “What is the incidence of cauda equina syndrome? A systematic review,” Hoeritzauer et al, J Neurosurg Spine, 2020.
- “Determination of potential risk characteristics for cauda equina compression in emergency department patients presenting with atraumatic back pain: a 4-year retrospective cohort analysis within a tertiary referral neurosciences centre,” Angus et al, Emerg Med J, 2021.
These two articles on PainScience.com cite this item as a source: