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Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society 2001;30(2): 180-185. |
Analysis of Noninstrumented Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Interbody Fusion in Degenerative Cervical Disease. |
Sang Weon Lee, Geun Sung Song |
Department of Neurosurgery, Pusan National University School of Medicine, Pusan, Korea. |
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ABSTRACT |
OBJECTIVE S: We retrospectively studied the efficacy of anterior cervical discectomy and interbody fusion without plate fixation in degenerative cervical disease. METHODS Thirty two consecutive patients with degenerative cervical disease treated by decompression and interbody fusion(Smith-Robinson technique) without anterior cervical plating were studied for postoperative complication rate as well as the clinical and radiologic outcomes and were compared the result of ours with other reported series where the anterior cervical plating was used. RESULTS All cases were reviewed after average period of 13 months for the purpose of this study. There were 4 postoperative complications related to grafting. A solid fusion was obtained in all cases with single-level fusion(n=21) and 81.8 % of the cases with a two-level fusion(n=11). The overall fusion rate was 93.8 % and fusion rate per level fused was 95.3%. The clinical outcome of the patients was comparable with that in the literature, with one patient having a poor result. Comparing the result of this study with others of the anterior cervical plating, clinical outcome and fusion rate were not superior in plate fixation group in single-level fusion, but increased fusion rate and decreased graft-related complication rate were noted in multilevel fusion with plate fixation. However, the clinical outcome was not superior to noninstrumented fusion group of this study. CONCLUSION These results demonstrate that anterior cervical discectomy and interbody fusion(Smith-Robinson technique) without instrumentation is safe and reliable method of single-level fusion in degenerative cervical disease. Plate fixation system doesn't seem necessary in single level fusion in degenerative cervical disease. |
Key Words:
Degenerative cervical disease; Anterior cervical discectomy and interbody fusion; Anterior cervical plating |
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