title: Anterior spinal cord herniation after multilevel anterior cervical corpectomy: A case report.
abstract: Many complications related to the resection of an ossified posterior longitudinal ligament via the anterior approach have been reported. Postoperative neurological deterioration is one such complication that may appear due to massive anterior spinal cord herniation related to a dural defect following resection of the ossified posterior longitudinal ligament. Specifically, spinal cord herniations have been reported to be associated with posterior approaches, and a large number of theories regarding this association have been offered by various authors. However, anterior spinal cord herniation is extremely rare, and its pathophysiology has not yet been explained. In this case report, we report a male patient who experienced anterior spinal cord herniation following anterior surgery. Spinal cord herniation may develop following the removal of the anterior cervical corpectomy. Therefore, surgeons should be aware of this condition when planning treatments for cervical spondylotic myelopathy via the anterior approach.
authors.affiliation: Adnan Menderes University Medicine Faculty, Neurosurgery Department Aytepe-Aydin, Turkey. Electronic address: zahir.kizilay@adu.edu.tr.
authors.forename: Zahir
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Kizilay
authors.affiliation: Adnan Menderes University Medicine Faculty, Neurosurgery Department Aytepe-Aydin, Turkey. Electronic address: dryilmazali@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yilmaz
authors.affiliation: Suleyman Demirel University Medicine Faculty, Neurosurgery Department Isparta, Turkey. Electronic address: ozguri_36@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Ozgur
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ismailoglu
authors.affiliation: Pamukkale University Medicine Faculty, Neurosurgery Department, Denizli, Turkey. Electronic address: ercoskun@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Mehmet Erdal
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Coskun
mesh_terms: D002574:Cervical Vertebrae / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D007431:Intraoperative Complications / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019637:Orthopedic Procedures / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000379:methods; D017887:Ossification of Posterior Longitudinal Ligament / Q000601:surgery*; D013118:Spinal Cord Diseases / Q000209:etiology*
keywords: Cerebrospinal fluid leakage; Cervical anterior multilevel corpectomy; Ossified posterior longitudinal ligament resection; Spinal cord herniation