OBJECTIVETo evaluate the role of anterior decompression with resection of the posterior longitudinal ligament (PLL) on the cervical degenerative disease with sympathetic symptoms and to primarily validate our speculation on the mechanism of this entity.

METHODSForty-seven cases suffered from cervical spondylosis from 2002 to 2007 were retrospectively reviewed. The inclusive criteria were: (1) cervical myelopathy or radiculopathy or both secondary to cervical degenerative disease; (2) complaining of unexplainable and irrelievable sympathetic symptoms such as dizziness, vertigo, etc; (3) performed with anterior cervical decompression with PLL resection and internal fixation. The JOA scores were recorded and evaluated. The sympathetic symptoms were evaluated by both 20 points evaluation system and patient's satisfaction evaluation. The posterior longitudinal ligaments of 8 rabbits were harvested and stained by Sucrose-Phosphate-glyoxylic acid (SPG) to distinguish the sympathetic nerve fibers. The results were observed and evaluated by fluorescent microscope and Image-pro plus 5.0.

RESULTSAll the patients were followed up for 10 to 48 months. The JOA scores before operation were 12.6 and increased to 15.2 at the final follow up. The sympathetic symptoms evaluation was 6.0 before operation and 2.8 after. The satisfactory evaluation was excellent in 19 cases, good in 16, fair in 8 and poor in 4. The effective rate was 87.5%. The SPG stain showed that there were plenty of sympathetic post-ganglia fibers in the cervical PLL, which were distributed like a web, and there were more fibers distributed at the interspaced zone than at the vertebral body zone. The density of the sympathetic nerve fibers in the C(2/3), C(3/4) and C(4/5) were greater than those in C(5/6) and C(6/7); while the density in the shallow layer were greater than those in the deep layer.

CONCLUSIONSThe sympathetic nerve fibers distributed in the cervical PLL maybe another one significant factor causing sympathetic symptom of cervical spondylosis. The anterior cervical decompression with resection of PLL can relieve the sympathetic symptoms of the patients.