Interleaved corpectomies and discectomies as a treatment for cervical spondylotic myelopathy
Keywords:
Myelitis, Spinal cord compression, Spinal cord diseasesAbstract
Background: Global literature makes evident that cervical corpectomy through the anterior via, a procedure done in order to decompress the cervical spine, is usually effective in the treatment of myelopathy secondary to degen- erative disc disease of prolonged evolution. Traditionally, vertebral reconstruction is done my inserting a molded autonomous bone graft. The additional stability is acquired by placing any of the different types of fontal plates. Objective: To evaluate postoperative outcomes in patients who underwent cervical interleaved technique. Materials and Method: The method is based on performing discectomies and corpectomies in order to preserve an intact vertebra in the center of the area of decompression, which increases mechanical stability. We reviewed the evolution of 10 patients with cervical spondylotic myelopathy who underwent the interleaved technique be- tween 2003 and 2007. All patients were instrumented with a front plate. Results: The preoperative score of patients according to the scale of the Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) was 8.2 and the improvement was reflected in an increase of 12.6 postoperatively. At the end of the follow-up pe- riod (around 21 months) radiographic images showed evidence of bone fusion in 9 patients, the fusion state was not able to be determined in any of the patients. There was no evidence of failure related to the instrumentation in any of the patients. Conclusion: We recommend this technique when it is needed to handle multiple myelopathy levels by the anterior via, especially in elderly patients with osteoporosis
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