We performed a clinical and radiological study of the prognosis of unoperated RA patients with cervical myelopathy. 16 patients with neural finding (Ranawat IIIA or IIIB) were investigated. The average age of subjects was 69.5 (60-77) years the average duration of disease was 14 years. Radiological involvement of the cervical spine at the beginning of this study was as follows: AAS 3 cases, AAS+VS 9 cases, VS, VS+SS, SS 1 cases, unknown 1 case. 2 years and 7 months after the onset of myelopathy, 6 cases showed the deterioration in their neurological findings and 5 cases were dead. The causes of death were gastrointestinal disease, heart failure and malignant lymphoma. The survival rate of unoperated patients with myelopathy was no more than 50.6% at 5 years after the onset of myelopathy.
