Ossification of the posterior cervical longitudinal ligament.
Forty patients with cervical myelopathy due to OPLL (Ossification of the Posterior Longitudinal Ligament) of the cervical spine were studied. According to Abe's or Yamamoto's classification, 12 of them had a 50% decrease in the cross-sectional area of the spinal canal. Subtotal vertebrectomy was carried out in 8 of these patients and the remaining 4 patients received posterior decompression. We concluded that anterior decompression, if possible, is the treatment of choice and posterior decompression is recommended only for the longitudinal type involving more than 3 segments.
Yang
D Y
DY
Department of Surgery, Taichung Veteran General Hospital, Taiwan, Republic of China.
Wang
Y C
YC
Lee
C S
CS
Chou
D Y
DY
D002574:Cervical Vertebrae / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007796:Laminectomy; D008023:Ligaments, Articular / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D009999:Ossification, Heterotopic / Q000145:classification / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D013117:Spinal Cord Compression / Q000145:classification / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D013130:Spinal Stenosis / Q000145:classification / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D013624:Taiwan; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed