Anterolateral Cervical Foraminotomy in the Management of Unilateral Spondylotic Radiculopathy
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- Category: Vol. 85, September 2017
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Anterolateral Cervical Foraminotomy in the Management of Unilateral Spondylotic Radiculopathy, ABDEL-ALIM RAGAB, NASSER EL-GHANDOUR, AHMED HEGAZY and MOHAMED EL-MAGHRABY
Abstract
Objective: This study details assessment of the indications, safety, efficacy and complications of anterolateral cervical foraminotomy for treatment of cervical spondylotic radicul-opathy.
Patients and Methods: A prospective study conducted on fourteen patients with unilateral cervical spondylotic radicu-lopathy confirmed by clinical and radiological data, refractory to non-surgical measures for at least 6 months in the period between October 2010 and November 2012, patients were operated upon at Cairo University Hospitals and Al-Haram hospital. Outcome of patients was categorized according to Odom’s criteria.
Results: Average age of presentation was 44.3 years, male to female ratio was 2.5:1 and average duration of symp-toms was 12.5 months. 7 cases had right sided radiculopathy and 7 cases had left sided radiculopathy. The most common presenting symptom after brachialgia was neck pain (78.6%); the most common sign was motor weakness (42.9%). Most common operated level was C4-5 (35.7%). Excellent and good outcomes of patients were obtained in 92.86%. The mean follow-up period was 16.5 months with no recurrence, instability, progressive kyphosis, vertebral collapse nor other late complications like adjacent segment disease.
Conclusion: Anterolateral cervical foraminotomy seem to be an effective surgical procedure for the treatment of unilateral radiculopathy caused by posterolateral osteophytes or herniated hard disc with comparable results to the conven-tional anterior cervical discectomy and fusion.