Early results from posterior cervical fusion with a screw-rod system.
OBJECTIVE
We performed 65 cases of posterior fusion surgery for cervical and/or high thoracic lesions using a polyaxial screw-rod system.


METHODS
A total of 486 screws were implanted in 65 patients.


RESULTS
Fixation of the screws was carried out over an average of 2.9 spinal segments. Upon evaluation by postoperative CT scans, twelve (2.5%) screws had suboptimal trajectories but two of these revealed radiculopathy in one patient and required screw repositioning. No vascular sequelae resulted. There has been no segmental motion in any of the cases to date. As for other complications, there was one case of dural tearing and two cases of lateral mass fractures. There were no infections or other wound healing problems or hardware failures. No patients had neurological deterioration after surgery. There were statistically significant improvements in the mean Neck Disability Index (NDI) scores and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) scores in the preoperative and late postoperative follow-up evaluations. Although further studies are required to establish the long-term results of fusion rates and clinical outcomes.


CONCLUSIONS
We cautiously suggest that the posterior polyaxial screw-rod system can be safely used as a primary or additional fusion method in this risky region. The successful and safe use of this method is dependent on a precise preoperative surgical plan and tactics for ensuring safe screw fixation.
Kim
Sang Hyun
SH
Department of Neurosurgery, Yonsei University College of Medicine, 250 Seongsanno, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 120-752, Korea.
Shin
Dong Ah
DA
Yi
Seung
S
Yoon
Do Heum
DH
Kim
Keung Nyun
KN
Shin
Hyun Chul
HC
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001863:Bone Screws; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020127:Recovery of Function; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013122:Spinal Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D013123:Spinal Fusion / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D013904:Thoracic Vertebrae / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery; D013997:Time Factors; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D016896:Treatment Outcome