title: Ossification of the posterior cervical longitudinal ligament.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Taichung Veteran General Hospital, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: D Y
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Y C
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: C S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: D Y
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Chou
mesh_terms: 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