The Correlation Between Radiographic and Clinical Results after Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion / 대한척추외과학회지

STUDY DESIGN: This is a prospective study. OBJECTIVES: We wanted to analyse the correlation between the radiographic and clinical results after anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) for treating degenerative cervical diseases. Summary of Literature REVIEW: ACDF is a successful procedure for treating the degenerative cervical spine. Many studies have reported on radiographic results and clinical outcomes of this procedure. However, few studies have examined the relationships between the changes of the radiographic parameters and the clinical results after ACDF. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 26 patients who had single level ACDF performed for degenerative cervical diseases during the period between Jan, 2000 and Dec, 2004 were evaluated. All the patients underwent autologous iliac bone graft and plate fixation. The radiographic parameters, including the disc height, the disc space angulation and the spinous process distance were measured at the preoperative period, post operative 1 month and the last follow up period, respectively. The clinical changes were measured using the visual analogue scale (VAS) for neck and arm pain at the preoperative and last follow up period. The correlations between the radiographic parameters and the clinical outcomes were assessed by Pearson correlation. RESULTS: There were significant changes in disc height (6.7-7.9 mm) as well as disc space angulation (kyphosis: 1.1degrees, lordosis: 3.4degrees). The reduction in the neck pain VAS score (63.9-33.1) and the arm pain VAS score (57.9-29.7) was significant. None of the correlations between the radiographic parameters and the clinical outcomes were significant (p>0.05). CONCLUSION: Although the clinical outcomes improved significantly, there was no significant correlation between the radiographic parameters and clinical results after performing single level anterior cervical discectomy and fusion for the degenerative cervical disease.

Study of the lumbar curvature with various factors of pelvic inclination. Change of radiographic lumbar curvature according to hip joint flexion

The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of the hip flexion upon parameters that are indicators of spinal mobility. These parameters include intervertebral disc angle and lumbar curvature by measurement of the radiography in twenty eight healthy men. The state of knowledge of how these parameters relate to lumbar mobility have resolved. The results of the parameters showed negligible changes in relation to the mobility of lumbar spine according to angle of hip flexion except at L4-L5 intervertebral disc angle and lumbar curvature (p< 0.05). This results of study confirms that hip joint movement therapy can be applied to these norms in patient management in supine position of for the stable spinal injuries in the upper lumbar region during early phase.