Effectiveness of the New Modified Smith-Robinson Bone Graft for Cervical Anterior Interbody Fusion / 대한정형외과학회잡지

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: We attempted to evaluate the effectiveness of the new modified Smith-Robinson bone graft method for performing cervical anterior interbody fusion. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty-two patients had anterior interbody fusion on the cervical spine, using an anterior approach and the new modified Smith-Robinson's method (NMSR), between September 2001 and June 2006. There were 30 males and 12 females, with an average age of 51.2 years and the mean follow up period was 39.5 months. We measured the area from C4 to C6 in 32 cases. This was compared with the contact area of the bone graft of the NMSR method and the Original Smith-Robinson method (OSR). We also checked the time to bone union and changes of Cobb's angle at the final follow-up to evaluate the effectiveness of the NMSR. RESULTS: Bony fusion was obtained in all cases. The average size of the OSR were 169 and 152 mm2, in the males and females respectively, whereas those of the NMSR were 263, and 228 mm2. Therefore, the average size of the NMSR increased to 94 mm2 and 76 mm2 than those of the OSR method in the males and females. The average time to radiological bone union was 9.6 weeks and the changes of Cobb's angle at final follow-up were 2.5+/-2.6degrees. CONCLUSION: The NMSR technique was a very effective method for cervical anterior interbody fusion. It could enlarge the bone graft size about 50-56% compared with the OSR technique. It also shortened the period of bone union and also increased the bone union rate.