The Risk of Adjacent Segment Disease After Anterior Cervical Discectomy With Fusion for Cervical Degenerative Disc Disease

Detailed Summary

Radiculopathy and/or myelopathy due to cervical degenerative disc disease are increasingly common pathologies in our ageing population. Both can be treated non-surgically or surgically. The most commonly used neurosurgical treatment is anterior cervical discectomy with or without fusion. The goal is to achieve neural decompression of the operated segment in both procedures. However, due to this fusion and reduced mobility of the cervical spine at the level of the intervention, adjacent segment disease may occur. This can lead to new symptoms like radiculopathy and/or myelopathy at an adjacent level which requires reoperation in about 2/3 of patients. Reoperations are burdensome for patients and have a socio-economic impact due to the costs of hospital admissions, operations, and secondary costs such as work-absenteeism. The primary objective of this retrospective study is to determine the occurrence of adjacent segment disease after a single- or multi-level anterior cervical discectomy with fusion procedure for radiculopathy and/or myelopathy in the investigators' centre and to compare this to the incidence in literature. The investigators also look at the risk of adjacent segment disease after different anterior surgical techniques, such as anterior cervical discectomy, anterior cervical discectomy with fusion and plating, and corpectomy. As a secondary outcome they aim to determine risk factors predicting the occurrence of adjacent segment disease.

Study Details

Timeline

Interventions