Impact of longitudinal distance of the cervical spine on the results of expansive open-door laminoplasty.
METHODS
A retrospective study in patients who underwent expansive open-door laminoplasty (ELAP) for cervical myelopathy and in whom the cervical alignment was nonlordotic at the final follow-up to analyze the correlation between the longitudinal distance of the cervical spine and surgical results.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the impact of longitudinal distance of the cervical spine on surgical results of ELAP and to propose a new concept, the redundant spinal cord, that may influence patient selection for ELAP.


BACKGROUND
Results in many studies have demonstrated that postoperative cervical alignment has significant effect on surgical results, and spines that are malaligned are thought to deteriorate. The current surgical data showed that not all patients with postoperative malalignment had poor surgical results. Patients with cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) tended to have better clinical results than those with ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL).


METHODS
Results in 70 patients who underwent ELAP for cervical myelopathy with postoperative cervical malalignment were investigated. The longitudinal distance index (LDI) was defined as the length of a vertical line between the posteroinferior edges of C2 and C7 divided by the anteroposterior diameter of C4 and was measured on lateral neutral radiographs at final follow-up. Correlation between LDI and surgical results represented by Japanese Orthopedic Association scores and percentage of recovery were analyzed statistically in each patient.


RESULTS
Patients with CSM had smaller LDI and better surgical results than those with OPLL. Weak but significant negative correlation was detected between LDI and percentage of recovery, indicating that longitudinal distance of the cervical spine may have some degree of impact on the surgical results of ELAP.


CONCLUSIONS
A decrease in LDI represents shortening of the cervical spine caused by multiple disc degeneration and may influence surgical results of ELAP by inducing redundancy of the spinal cord in patients with postoperative malalignment.
Chiba
K
K
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, School of Medicine, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan. kchiba@med.keio.ac.jp
Toyama
Y
Y
Watanabe
M
M
Maruiwa
H
H
Matsumoto
M
M
Hirabayashi
K
K
D002574:Cervical Vertebrae / Q000601:surgery*; D019299:Decompression, Surgical / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007796:Laminectomy / Q000379:methods*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017887:Ossification of Posterior Longitudinal Ligament / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000473:pathology; D013117:Spinal Cord Compression / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery*; D013121:Spinal Curvatures / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology*