Preoperative MC showed a trend toward a negative correlation with clinical improvement in patients undergoing discectomy for LDH and a positive correlation with clinical improvement in patients undergoing TDR for degenerative disc disease. However, it is questionable whether the differences surpass the minimal clinically important difference (MCID). In patients undergoing fusion surgery, there was insufficient evidence to draw any conclusions. Future studies should include a larger patient material, focus on MCID, and include known confounding factors of the clinical outcome of spine surgery in the analysis.

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Cerebellar mutism syndrome (CMS) is a well-known complication of posterior fossa (PF) tumour surgery. CMS has previously been reported in cases of non-tumour surgical aetiology in a limited number of publications. We report a case of a 10-year-old girl who suffered a cerebellar haemorrhage and subsequent CMS following surgical treatment of a ruptured arteriovenous malformation (AVM) in the cerebellar vermis. The AVM was removed acutely through a transvermian access, and hydrocephalus was treated with temporary external drainage. In the postoperative period, she suffered diffuse vasospasms of the anterior cerebral circulation and had a permanent shunt placed for hydrocephalus. Her mutism resolved after 45 days but severe ataxia persisted. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of CMS related to a vermian haemorrhagic stroke with postoperative diffuse vasospasms. Based on this case, we present a literature review on CMS of non-tumour surgical origin in children.