Efficacy of posterior cervical laminectomy for multilevel cervical ossification of posterior longitudinal ligament

Abstract

Study Design: This study design includes retrospective study of prospectively collected data. Introduction: The purpose is to determine the efficacy of posterior cervical laminectomy for multilevel cervical ossified posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL). Laminectomy has been a preferred surgical treatment for multilevel cervical OPLL since a long time. Because of the risk associated with progressive kyphosis, the trend is shifted from laminectomy alone to laminoplasty and laminectomy with fusion. The data regarding the efficacy of laminectomy alone in terms of clinical and radiological parameters in multilevel cervical OPLL are scanty. Materials and Methods: We reviewed 82 patients with multilevel cervical OPLL who underwent posterior cervical laminectomy from January 2008 to December 2014. Patients with age ≥45 years, C2–C7 Cobb’s angle ≥ 10º, compression at ≥3 levels, and a minimum of 5 years of follow-up were included in the study. Demographics, pre and postoperative clinical parameters (visual analog scale (VAS), Nurick’s grading, and modified Japanese orthopedic association (mJOA) score), radiological parameters (C2–C7 Cobb’s angle, C2–C7 sagittal vertical axis (SVA)), perioperative parameters, complications, and recovery rate were evaluated. Results: The mean age of the patients was 56.4 (46–72) with M: F of 52:30. The mean blood loss and mean operative time were 93.9 mL and 96.6 min, respectively. There was significant improvement (P < 0.05) in VAS (3.6 ± 1.4 to 1.8 ± 0.8), Nurick’s grading (3.2 ± 0.9 to 1.9 ± 0.6), and mJOA score (8.4 ± 1.4 to 13.8 ± 1.9). C2–C7 Cobb’s angle increased from ‒14.4 ± 1.7º preoperatively to ‒8.2 ± 1.5º postoperatively and C2–C7 SVA from 18.4 ± 12.5 to 29.8 ± 15.8. Intraoperatively four patients had a dural tear. Three patients showed neurological deterioration postoperatively and three had unilateral C5 palsy which improved within a period of 6 months. 18.3% had an excellent outcome, 40.3% had good, 34.1% had fair, and 7.3% of the patients had a poor outcome. Conclusion: Multilevel cervical laminectomy is an effective surgical procedure in properly selected patients with multilevel OPLL. The outcomes are satisfactory in terms of radiological and clinical parameters. The risk of postlaminectomy kyphosis is not too high, and we found no correlation of kyphosis with clinical affection.