Loss of inter-vertebral disc height after anterior cervical discectomy

Most surgeons undertaking anterior cervical discectomy (ACD) introduce a bone graft or cage into the disc space when the decompression is complete. This is done to prevent segmental collapse, preserve cervical spine alignment and to promote fusion. We have conducted a prospective observational cohor...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inBritish journal of neurosurgery Vol. 19; no. 6; pp. 469 - 474
Main Authors Haden, N., Latimer, M., Seeley, H. M., Laing, R. J.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Abingdon Informa UK Ltd 01.12.2005
Taylor & Francis
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
Biological and medical sciences
Bones
Cervical discectomy
Cervical Vertebrae - surgery
Clinical outcomes
Cohort Studies
Diskectomy - adverse effects
Diskectomy - methods
Female
Humans
Intervertebral Disc
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Neurosurgery
outcome
Prospective Studies
radiology
SF36
Side effects
Skin & tissue grafts
Spinal Cord Diseases - surgery
Spinal Curvatures - etiology
Spine
Surgery (general aspects). Transplantations, organ and tissue grafts. Graft diseases
Treatment Outcome
SF36
Nervous system diseases
Prognosis
Cervical discectomy
Exeresis
Surgery
Radiology
Discectomy
Intervertebral disk
Cervical spine
outcome
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Summary:Most surgeons undertaking anterior cervical discectomy (ACD) introduce a bone graft or cage into the disc space when the decompression is complete. This is done to prevent segmental collapse, preserve cervical spine alignment and to promote fusion. We have conducted a prospective observational cohort study to investigate the relationship between loss of disc height, cervical spine alignment and clinical outcome in 140 patients undergoing ACD without inter-body graft or cage. At a minimum of 12 months after operation changes in disc space height and cervical spine alignment were correlated with clinical outcome measured by SF36, Neck Disability Index, and visual analogue neck and arm pain scores. There was no relationship between loss of disc height and outcome. Loss of the overall cervical lordosis was present in 71 patients and segmental kyphosis was found in 69. Analysis of clinical outcome showed no significant differences between patients with preserved and abnormal cervical alignment. Neither loss of disc height nor disturbance of cervical alignment compromised clinical outcome in the first year following ACD.
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ISSN:0268-8697
1360-046X
DOI:10.1080/02688690500495109