ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate effect of single anterior decompression and fusion for pinching cervical spondylosis myelopathy.Methods 82 patients with pinching cervical spondylosis myelopathy,treated with single anterior decompression and fusion,were analyzed,including 43 males and 39 females,with an average age of 54.4 years (range,33-79 years).Occupying rate,anterior occupying rate and posterior occupying rate were measured on pre- and post-operative midsagittal MRIs.Multiple regression analysis was performed between preoperative occupying rate,intervertebral space height,postoperative imaging changes and neural function recovery.Results All patients were followed up for an average of 25.8 months (range,9-72 months).Significant differences were found between pre- and postoperative Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) scores,anterior occupying rate,posterior occupying rate,and intervertebral space height,respectively.Pre- and post-operative posterior occupying rate was averagely 29.0％±10.5％ and 19.9％+11.6％,respectively,and improvement rate of posterior occupying rate was 9.0％±6.1％.Regression analysis found that preoperative intervertebral space height did not relate to posterior occupying rate,while preoperative posterior occupying rate related to improvement rate of posterior occupying rate.JOA scores improved significantly after operation in patients with preoperative posterior occupying rate between 20％ and 40％.However,the decompression results were poor in patients with preoperative posterior occupying rate ≥40％.Conclusion Anterior decompression and fusion can achieve satisfactory results in patients with pinching cervical spondylotic myelopathy.For patients with preoperative posterior occupying rate between 20％ and 40％,the decompression results are better.