OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of 3-level hybrid surgery (HS), which combines fusion and cervical disc replacement (CDR), compared to 3-level fusionin patient with cervical spondylosis involving 3 levels. METHODS: Patients in the anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) group (n=30) underwent 3-level fusion and the HS group (n=19) underwent combined surgery with fusion and CDR. Clinical outcomes were evaluated using the visual analogue scale for the arm, the neck disability index (NDI), Odom criteria and postoperative complications. The cervical range of motion (ROM), fusion rate and adjacent segments degeneration were assessed with radiographs. RESULTS: Significant improvements in arm pain relief and functional outcome were observed in ACDF and HS group. The NDI in the HS group showed better improvement 6 months after surgery than that of the ACDF group. The ACDF group had a lower fusion rate, higher incidence of device related complications and radiological changes in adjacent segments compared with the HS group. The better recovery of cervical ROM was observed in HS group. However, that of the ACDF group was significantly decreased and did not recover. CONCLUSION: The HS group was better than the ACDF group in terms of NDI, cervical ROM, fusion rate, incidence of postoperative complications and adjacent segment degeneration.
Arm ; Arthroplasty ; Diskectomy* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Neck ; Postoperative Complications ; Range of Motion, Articular ; Spondylosis ; Total Disc Replacement*

OBJECTIVE: Laminoplasty is an effective surgical method for treating cervical degenerative disease. However, postoperative complications such as kyphosis, restriction of neck motion, and instability are often reported. Despite sufficient preoperative lordosis, this procedure often aggravates the lordotic curve of the cervical spine and straightens cervical alignment. Hence, it is important to examine preoperative risk factors associated with postoperative kyphotic alignment changes. Our study aimed to investigate preoperative radiologic parameters associated with kyphotic deformity post laminoplasty. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 49 patients who underwent open door laminoplasty for cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) or ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL) at Pusan National University Yangsan Hospital between January 2011 and December 2015. Inclusion criteria were as follows: 1) preoperative diagnosis of OPLL or CSM, 2) no previous history of cervical spinal surgery, cervical trauma, tumor, or infection, 3) minimum of one-year follow-up post laminoplasty with proper radiologic examinations performed in outpatient clinics, and 4) cases showing C7 and T1 vertebral body in the preoperative cervical sagittal plane. The radiologic parameters examined included C2–C7 Cobb angles, T1 slope, C2–C7 sagittal vertical axis (SVA), range of motion (ROM) from C2–C7, segmental instability, and T2 signal change observed on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Clinical factors examined included preoperative modified Japanese Orthopedic Association scores, disease classification, duration of symptoms, and the range of operation levels. RESULTS: Mean preoperative sagittal alignment was 13.01° lordotic; 6.94° lordotic postoperatively. Percentage of postoperative kyphosis was 80%. Patients were subdivided into two groups according to postoperative Cobb angle change; a control group (n=22) and kyphotic group (n=27). The kyphotic group consisted of patients with more than 5° kyphotic angle change postoperatively. There were no differences in age, sex, C2–C7 Cobb angle, T1 slope, C2–C7 SVA, ROM from C2–C7, segmental instability, or T2 signal change. Multiple regression analysis revealed T1 slope had a strong relationship with postoperative cervical kyphosis. Likewise, correlation analysis revealed there was a statistical significance between T1 slope and postoperative Cobb angle change (p=0.035), and that there was a statistically significant relationship between T1 slope and C2–C7 SVA (p=0.001). Patients with higher preoperative T1 slope demonstrated loss of lordotic curvature postoperatively. CONCLUSION: Laminoplasty has a high probability of aggravating sagittal balance of the cervical spine. T1 slope is a good predictor of postoperative kyphotic changes of the cervical spine. Similarly, T1 slope is strongly correlated with C2–C7 SVA.
Ambulatory Care Facilities ; Animals ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Busan ; Cervical Vertebrae ; Classification ; Congenital Abnormalities ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gyeongsangnam-do ; Humans ; Kyphosis ; Laminoplasty* ; Longitudinal Ligaments ; Lordosis ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Medical Records ; Methods ; Neck ; Orthopedics ; Postoperative Complications ; Range of Motion, Articular ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Spinal Cord Diseases ; Spine* ; Spondylosis

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of cervical midline-splitting French-door laminoplasty with a polyether ether ketone (PEEK) plate. The authors retrospectively analyzed the results of patients with cervical laminoplasty miniplate (MAXPACER(R)) without bone grafts in multilevel cervical stenosis. METHODS: Fifteen patients (13 males and 2 females, mean age 50.0 years (range 35-72)) with multilevel cervical stenosis (ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament and cervical spondylotic myelopathy) underwent a combined surgery of midline-splitting French-door laminoplasty with or without mini plate. All 15 patients were followed for at least 12 months (mean follow-up 13.3 months) after surgery, and a retrospective review of the clinical, radiological and surgical data was conducted. RESULTS: The radiographic results showed a significant increase over the postoperative period in anterior-posterior diameter (9.4+/-2.2 cm to 16.2+/-1.1 cm), open angles in cervical lamina (46.5+/-16.0degrees to 77.2+/-13.1degrees), and sectional volume of cervical central canal (100.5+/-0.7 cm2 to 146.5+/-4.9 cm2) (p<0.001). The sagittal alignment of the cervical spine was well preserved (31.7+/-10.0degrees to 31.2+/-7.6degrees, p=0.877) during the follow-up period. The clinical results were successful, and there were no significant intraoperative complications except for screw displacement in two cases. The mini plate constructs did not fail during the 12 month follow-up period, and the decompression was maintained. CONCLUSION: Despite the small cohort and short follow-up duration, the present study demonstrated that combined cervical expansive laminoplasty using the mini plate is an effective treatment for multilevel cervical stenosis.
Cohort Studies ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Decompression ; Ether* ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Intraoperative Complications ; Longitudinal Ligaments ; Male ; Postoperative Period ; Retrospective Studies ; Spine ; Spondylosis* ; Transplants

OBJECTIVETo investigate the application of the expanding forming under the plate through cervical spatium intermusculare approach to treat multi-segmental myelopathic cervical spondylosis.

METHODSFrom July 2005 to June 2013, 25 patients with multi-segmental myelopathic cervical spondylosis were treated by the expanding forming under the plate through cervical spatium intermusculare approach including 16 males and 9 females with an average age of 56.5 years old ranging from 35 to 78 years old. Among them, 10 cases were onset without causes slowly, 7 cases were onset without causes suddenly, 8 cases were onset after mild trauma or tired. JOA scoring, incidence of postoperative axial symptoms and imaging studies were used to evaluate the effect.

RESULTSTwenty-five cases were followed up for 6 months to 7 years and 6 months with an average of 2 years and 9 months. There were no infection, cerebrospinal fluid leakage after the operation, and complications such as nerve damage were occurred. The operation time was 120 to 150 min, the bleeding was 300 to 500 ml. Imaging examination showed vertebral canal sagittal diameter increased, the vertebral canal increased significantly in the cross sectional area of the spinal cord, cervical curvature was straighten in 4 cases (2 cases of them became normal sequence). There were no more cases of cervical protruding and segmental instability increased. Postoperative walking ability enhanced, the finger activity of majority of patients improved on flexibility, grip strength, and accuracy of using chopsticks improved, numbness and chest waist band feeling had different degree of reduce, preoperative urine impairment were improved to varying degrees. Preoperative JOA scores were 3 to 13 points with an average of (8.86 ± 4.25) points; Postoperative 12 months' JOA scores were 7 to 17 points with an average of (13.76 ± 3.56) points, period was 60.19% in average, JOA score had statistically difference between before and after operation (P < 0.05). The result were excellent in 14 cases, good in 6 cases, and fair in 4 cases and poor in 1 case.

CONCLUSIONApplication of the expanding forming under the plate through cervical spatium intermusculare approach to treat multi-segmental myelopathic cervical spondylosis, through muscular clearance, can retain complete cervical back muscle, maintain stability of cervical spine, and vertebral canal can get effective decompression at the same time.

Adult ; Aged ; Bone Plates ; Cervical Vertebrae ; Female ; Humans ; Laminectomy ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Postoperative Complications ; etiology ; Spondylosis ; surgery

Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Methylprednisolone ; therapeutic use ; Neuromyelitis Optica ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; etiology ; Spondylosis ; complications ; diagnosis ; drug therapy

OBJECTIVE: To analyze clinical features with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) and discuss the attentions in the canalith repositioning procedures. METHOD: A total of 76 male and female patients aged 80 and over with BPPV (elderly group) and 76 patients aged 60-65 years old with BPPV (older group) was retrospectively analyzed. RESULT: (1)Semicircular canal condition: in elderly group, posterior semicircular canal was involved in 72 cases, whereas the horizontal semicircular 4 cases. In older group, posterior semicircular canal was involved in 70 cases, whereas the horizontal semicircular and multiple canals in 5 cases and 1 case respectively. (2) Precipitating factors: precipitating factors of elderly were variety. Its closely related with emotion, infection, seasonal alternation surgery, and trauma. There were significant differences between the two groups (P<0. 05). (3) The symptoms of undergoing treatment and post-treatment: the duration of dizziness and carebaria were significant difference after canalith repositioning procedure treatment between two groups (P<0. 05), the duration of balance disturbance and symptoms of vegetative nerve functional disturbance like nausea and sweating were significant difference (P<0. 05). (4) Treatment and outcomes: the remission, partial remission rate were 34. 2 %, 81. 6% re- spectively, after the first or second time of repositioning treatment. The efficacy of repositioning treating at the first time was significantly different between two groups (P<0. 05). It was poor efficacy in elderly group. There is no difference in efficacy for repositioning treatment at the second or third time (P>0. 05). (5) The elderly always accompanied with other medical condition and had risk factors of cerebrovascular disease. The efficacy was not associated with the complication(P>0.05). However, it was most likely to overtreatment caused by emphasizing other medical conditions treatment. BPPV was easy to ignore and misdiagnose, meanwhile, delayed the diagnosis and increased the medical costs. (6) Many elderly were accompanied cervical spondylosis, lumbar spondylosis body stiffness and fear of vertigo which increased the difficulty of repositioning treatment. (7) Recurrence: we followed up 2 years after treatment. In older group, 11 patients (14. 5%)were relapsed. In elderly group, 29 patients (38. 2%) relapsed. There were significant differences between the two groups (P<0. 05). CONCLUSION There are various precipitating factors in elderly patients with BPPV, the most frequent precipitating factors were related to psychological factor and overfatigue. The symptoms of the patients attack BPPV was always mask with other diseases, but do not impact on the efficacy of Canalith repositioning at the first time; Even the efficacy of repositioning is poor at the first time, it's effective and safety after multiple treatments of repositioning; It prolonged the symptoms including carenaria, dizziness and nausea after treatment.
Aged ; Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo ; complications ; diagnosis ; psychology ; therapy ; Dizziness ; Emotions ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Masks ; Patient Positioning ; adverse effects ; methods ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies ; Semicircular Canals ; Spondylosis ; Vertigo

Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Radiculopathy ; etiology ; physiopathology ; therapy ; Spondylosis ; complications ; Upper Extremity ; physiopathology

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the short-term and long-term effects on treatment of neck pain caused by cervical spondylosis with the combination of acupuncture and moxibustion with seed-size moxa cone.

METHODSOne hundred and forty-five patients of neck pain were randomly divided into an acupuncture-moxibustion group (49 cases), an acupuncture group (48 cases) and a moxibustion group (48 cases). Acupoints of Bailao (Extra), Dazhui (GV 14), Jianzhongshu (SI15) and Zhongzhu (TE 3) were adopted for all the 3 groups. Acupuncture was applied at all the acupoints with 20 min needling retention for the acupuncture group. Moxibustion with seed-size moxa cone was used with 5 cones on each point for the moxibustion group. And both acupuncture and moxibustion with seed-size moxa cone were adopted for the acupuncture-moxibustion group. The treatment was applied once every 3 days, and 10 treatments should be finished within 4 weeks. Follow-up should be carried out for 3 months. The short-term and long-term effects were evaluated with the scores of Northwick Park Pain Questionnaire (NPQ) and McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ) as the indices of therapeutic effect.

RESULTSThe NPQ score and MPQ score of all the 3 groups after the treating course and the 3-month follow-up were both decreased when compared with those before the treatment (all P<0. 05). The scores of NPQ and MPQ the acupuncture-moxibustion group were lower than that of the other two groups. And the difference had obvious significance (P<0. 05). High efficiency of pain relieving for cervical spondylosis could be found in all the 3 groups, which showed that short-term and long-term effects were good for all the 3 groups. And the highest curative effect could be found in acupuncture-moxibustion group.

CONCLUSIONCombination of acupuncture and moxibustion with seed-size moxa cone has reached a superior effect in short-term and long-term for neck pain caused by cervical spondylosis.

Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Adult ; Aged ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Moxibustion ; instrumentation ; Neck Pain ; etiology ; therapy ; Spondylosis ; complications ; Treatment Outcome ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo explore the relation between "Gucuofeng and Jinchucao" and cervical spondylosis.

METHODSFrom March 2006 to October 2011,333 patients with cervical spondylosis were collected in the study as cervical spondylosis group; 30 subjects of control group come from student of Shuguang Hospital and other health volunteer. There were 119 males and 214 females with a mean age of (48.11 +/- 12.21) years in cervical spondylosis group and there were 6 males and 24 females with a mean age of (45.27 +/- 10.12) years in control group. In aspect of the symptom and sign, dynamic palpation, X-ray examination wer performed to find the incidence rate of "Gucuofeng and Jinchucao" in two groups.

RESULTSThere was significant difference in symptom and sign, dynamic palpation, X-ray examination between two groups (P<0.01). In cervical spondylosis group, "Gucuofeng and Jinchucao" occurred in 293 cases (87.99%),there was significant difference compared with control group (P<0.01).

CONCLUSIONCervical "Gucuofeng and Jinchucao" is one of pathological point of cervical spondylosis,and it can provide a guidance for the diagnosis and treatment of cervical spondylosis.

Adult ; Aged ; Cervical Vertebrae ; pathology ; Female ; Humans ; Joint Instability ; complications ; Male ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Middle Aged ; Spondylosis ; etiology ; pathology

Acupuncture Therapy ; Adult ; Aged ; Heart Diseases ; etiology ; therapy ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Spondylosis ; complications