ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Herniated cervical intervertebral disc volume measurement is an important parameter for quantitative evaluation of cervical disc degeneration, but it faces a lot of problems such as different measurement standards and the undefined measurement error range. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the accuracy of PACS software in measuring cervical disc volume, provide reliable measurement methods and accurate data support for clinical observation and research on cervical disc volume change and degeneration. METHODS: The error rate was obtained by repeated measurements of the normal saline with a known volume of 5.0 mL by means of PACS software. With reference to this error rate, volume changes of cervical disc herniation before and after cervical microendoscopic laminoplasty were “monitored” and analyzed in 30 cases. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University (approval No. 2019-KY-274) on September 26, 2019. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) For the measurement of normal saline with known volume, it was found that the error rate of measurement by PACS software was ±5%, suggesting that the measurement of cervical disc volume by PACS software is a simple and accurate method. (2) After cervical microendoscopic laminoplasty, there were 70 patients with reduced cervical disc volume reduction absorption rate of 5%-100%, and the absorption ratio was 76.1% (70/92). The volume increased by 11, but the increase was not more than 5% in the patients with cervical disc herniation after treatment. (3) The spontaneous disappearance or reduction of the herniated cervical disc after cervical microendoscopic laminoplasty was as early as 7 days, and the longest was 76 months. (4) The effects were excellent in 11 cases, good in 15 cases, and fair in 4 cases. The excellent and good rate was 86.7%.