[The surgical treatment of cervical disk pathology. A review of cases. The long-term clinical and radiographic results].

Abstract

The experience of the Clinica Ortopedica dell'Università di Firenze in the surgical treatment of cervical disk disease has changed over time due to both the ongoing improvement of surgical techniques and the availability of ever more effective and less invasive diagnostic tests. Although our first experience was indirect and we were not able to review all patients due to the long follow-up period, we believe that our current setup provides valid data, as is demonstrated by the thorough clinical and radiographic evaluation we performed on patients reviewed after a minimum of 5 years. We believe that the anterior-approach procedure, which can currently be recommended thanks to non-invasive diagnostic tests, is effective not only in cases of spinal cord impingement but also in cases of cervicobrachialgia. In the latter, aside from the relief of nerve root impingement, we noticed that intersomatic spinal fusion helped relieve pain at the site of the lesion even after a considerable period of time, whereas cervical pain often remained after laminectomy and frequently increased over time.