OBJECTIVE To study the surgical outcome of outpatient percutaneous microdecompressive endoscopic cervical discectomy with lower energy laser for shrinkage of disc material (thermodiskoplasty). METHOD Since 1994, 200 patients with herniated cervical discs have presented at the authors' clinic, with unilateral radicular pain. The diagnosis was confirmed by MRI or CT, and EMG. RESULTS At an av...

STUDY DESIGN National population-based cohort study. OBJECTIVE To compare the reoperation rates between cervical spondylotic radiculopathy and myelopathy in a national population of patients. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA There is an inherently low incidence of reoperation after surgery for cervical degenerative disease. Therefore, it is difficult to sufficiently power studies to detect differ...

A cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) has been a surgical option for the management of cervical disc disorders since 1958 (16). Over time, longterm outcome studies increasingly focused on adverse effects, specifically on the vertebrae and the intervertebral discs adjacent to the level fused (2,8,10). The concern that spinal fusion may potentially contribute to the acceleration of adjacent seg...

BACKGROUND The published two-year results of the pivotal U.S. Food and Drug Administration investigational device exemption trial with the use of the Bryan cervical disc arthroplasty compared with anterior cervical discectomy with fusion for treating single-level degenerative cervical disc disease revealed a significantly superior overall success rate in the arthroplasty group. The purpose of t...

Bilateral vocal cord paralysis is a rare and preventable complication of anterior cervical discectomy and fusion. Herein, we report a fatal case of bilateral vocal cord paralysis after anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACD/F). A 65-year-old man with cervical spine trauma and anterior cord syndrome, following car overturn presented to our emergency department. The patient had C6-T10 prola...

BACKGROUND Utilizing the literature, the results of three different minimally invasive surgery (MIS) anterior cervical percutaneous operations for neck/mild radicular pain and magnetic resonance (MR)-documented "contained" (not extruded/sequestrated) discs were evaluated. Results were compared with patients treated nonsurgically for comparable/greater neurological compromise, and even more seve...

STUDY DESIGN Prospective, concurrently enrolled, multicenter trials of the Bryan Cervical Disc Prosthesis (Medtronic Sofamor Danek, Memphis, TN) were conducted for the treatment of patients with single-level and two-level (bi-level) degenerative disc disease of the cervical spine. OBJECTIVES The studies were designed to determine whether new functional intervertebral cervical disc prosthesis ...

BACKGROUND PROCON was designed to assess the clinical outcome, development of adjacent disc disease and costs of cervical anterior discectomy without fusion, with fusion using a stand alone cage and implantation of a Bryan's disc prosthesis. Description of rationale and design of PROCON trial and discussion of its strengths and limitations. METHODS/DESIGN Since proof justifying the use of imp...

STUDY DESIGN National population-based cohort study. OBJECTIVE To evaluate reoperation rates of cervical spine surgery for cervical degenerative conditions utilizing a national population database. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA There is an inherently low incidence of reoperation after surgery for cervical degenerative disease. Therefore, it is difficult to sufficiently power studies to detect ...