Cervical Laminectomy With or Without Lateral Mass Fixation in Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy

Overview

The cervical spine consists of seven cervical vertebrae joined by intervertebral disks and a complex network of ligaments. The cervical spine has a normal lordotic curve, and it is much more mobile than the thoracic or lumbar regions of the spine, which makes it more liable to both degenerative and traumatic disorders . Degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM) is the most common form of spinal cord dysfunction in adults. The incidence and prevalence of myelopathy due to degeneration of the spine are estimated at a minimum of 41 and 605 per million in North America and Incidence of cervical spondylotic myelopathy-related hospitalizations has been estimated at 4.04/100,000 person-years. Degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM), earlier referred to as cervical spondylotic myelopathy, Patients report neurological symptoms such as pain and numbness in limbs, poor coordination, imbalance, and bladder dysfunction. Surgical management for patients with multilevel cervical myelopathy aims to decompress the spinal cord and restore the normal sagittal alignment using either an anterior approach or a posterior approach. Multilevel anterior surgery is associated with complications such as increased surgical trauma and increased incidence of pseudarthrosis, graft dislodgement, and implant failure as the number of level increases.The posterior approach is optimal for multilevel stenosis using consecutive laminectomies However, although the effectiveness of cervical laminectomy was documented repeatedly, there were still concerns over postoperative kyphotic deformity, cervical instability, and late deterioration Cervical laminectomy and fusion may be performed to avoid the potential complications of instability and kyphosis associated with cervical laminectomy alone. For the latter, dissection and removal of the posterior elements disrupts the normal biomechanics of the cervical spine, leading to post laminectomy deformity and instability Our study aim to evaluate the multilevel cervical laminectomy alone, and multilevel cervical laminectomy with lateral mass fixation in patients with cervical spondylotic myelopathy regarding the Clinical and radiological outcome for short term follow-up.