Anterior Cervical Microdiscectomy and Fusion using Stand-Alone Polyetheretherketone Cage: A Retrospective Study

Abstract

Introduction: Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion (ACDF) constitutes the standard mode of treatment for cervical disc herniation due to degeneration. Stand-alone cage can be considered as effective treatment for single and two level disc prolapse. Aim: To examine the clinical outcomes of ACDF using stand- alone Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) cage in a single centre. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study was conducted from July 2015 to Dec 2020 in 224 consecutive patients who underwent successful ACDF using self-locking stand-alone PEEK cage, study was done at Shri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara tertiary care hospital, Dharwad, Karnataka, India for radiculopathy or myelopathy due to cervical degenerative disc disease. Data analysis was done upto March 2021. The patients were analysed with Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) pain score for neck and arm pain and Nurick grade preoperatively and at 3 months postoperatively. Patients underwent preoperative and postoperative clinical, neurological evaluation. This study was statistically analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS version 13.0) (IBM, Chicago, IL). Results: Out of 244, (73%)164 patients underwent single level ACDF and sixty (27%) two-level ACDF. The mean age of patients was 45.86±12.07. It included 146 (65.2%) males and 78 (34.8%) female patients. In this study, the mean VAS neck score preoperatively was 4.04 and at 3 months postoperatively was 1.66 which was statistically significant (p<0.001). Even in VAS arm scores, there was a statistical significant difference (p<0.001) between preoperative (7.25) and 3 months postoperative (1.63) scores. The mean Nurick grade preoperatively was 1.46 vs 0.40 postoperatively which was statistically significant (p<0.001). No implant related complications or adjacent level disease was noted. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that treatment of cervical degenerative disc disease by ACDF withstand alone PEEK cage is an effective and safe method.