Abstract:
Objective To compare the clinical effectiveness of anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) with anterior cervical corpectomy and fusion (ACCF) for the treatment of two-adjacent-level degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM).
Methods A total of 40 patients with two-adjacent-level DCM were enrolled in the current retrospective study. According to the type of surgery, the patients were divided into two groups: an ACDF group and an ACCF group. In the ACDF group, poly ether-ether-ketone (PEEK) was used as the intervertebral cage, whereas titanium mesh cage (TMC) was selected in the ACCF group. Both groups were compared for perioperative parameters including the length of hospitalization stay, blood loss, operation time, and complications), clinical outcomes including Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) scores and visual analogue scale (VAS) scores for neck and arm pain, and fusion status.
Results Compared with the ACDF group, the ACCF group presented remarkably decreased average operation timer (
P<0.05), and increased blood loss during operation (
P<0.05). There was no difference in the length of hospitalization stay between the two groups (
P>0.05). During the follow-up period, JOA score and VAS score of neck and upper limb were significantly improved in both groups compared with preoperative values (
P<0.05), but there was no difference between the two groups (
P>0.05).
Conclusions Both surgical?options can achieve satisfactory results in the treatment of two-adjacent-level DCM. However, ACDF is suggested with respect to the possible subsidence of titanium mesh cage during ACCF.