The Correlation Between Radiographic and Clinical Results after Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion

Jae-Won You; Hong-Moon Sohn; Ja-Yong Lee; Chul-Gab Lee

doi:10.7469/JKSS.2006.13.2.81

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You, Sohn, Lee, and Lee: The Correlation Between Radiographic and Clinical Results after Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion

Original Research

Journal of Korean Spine Surg 2006;13(2):81-86.

Published online: 18 January 2006

DOI: https://doi.org/10.7469/JKSS.2006.13.2.81

The Correlation Between Radiographic and Clinical Results after Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion

Jae-Won You, M.D., Hong-Moon Sohn, M.D., Ja-Yong Lee, M.D.^#, Chul-Gab Lee, M.D.^#

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, College of Medicine, Chosun University, Gwangju, Korea

^{^#}Department of Occupational & Environmental Medicine, College of Medicine, Chosun University, Gwangju, Korea

Address reprint requests to Hong-Moon Sohn, M.D. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Chosun University Hospital 588 Seosuk-Dong, Dong-Gu, Gwangju 501-717, Korea Tel: 82-62-220-3147, Fax: 82-62-226-3379, E-mail: hmsohn@chosun.ac.kr

∗ 본 논문의 요지는 2005년도 대한척추외과학회 추계학술대회에서 발표되었음.

∗ 이 논문은 2003년도 조선대학교 연구 보조비 지원에 의하여 연구되었음.

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Study design

This is a prospective study.

Objectives

We wanted to analyse the correlation between the radiographic and clinical results after anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) for treating degenerative cervical diseases.

Summary of Literature Review

ACDF is a successful procedure for treating the degenerative cervical spine. Many studies have reported on radiographic results and clinical outcomes of this procedure. However, few studies have examined the relationships between the changes of the radiographic parameters and the clinical results after ACDF.

Materials and Methods

26 patients who had single level ACDF performed for degenerative cervical diseases during the period between Jan, 2000 and Dec, 2004 were evaluated. All the patients underwent autologous iliac bone graft and plate fixation. The radiographic parameters, including the disc height, the disc space angulation and the spinous process distance were measured at the preoperative period, post operative 1 month and the last follow up period, respectively. The clinical changes were measured using the visual analogue scale (VAS) for neck and arm pain at the preoperative and last follow up period. The correlations between the radiographic parameters and the clinical outcomes were assessed by Pearson correlation.

Results

There were significant changes in disc height (6.7-7.9 mm) as well as disc space angulation (kyphosis: 1.1, lordosis:3.4). The reduction in the neck pain VAS score (63.9-33.1) and the arm pain VAS score (57.9-29.7) was significant. None of the correlations between the radiographic parameters and the clinical outcomes were significant (p>0.05).

Conclusion

Although the clinical outcomes improved significantly, there was no significant correlation between the radiographic parameters and clinical results after performing single level anterior cervical discectomy and fusion for the degenerative cervical disease.

Keywords: Degenerative cervical disease, Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion, Disc height, Disc angle, Spinous process distance

REFERENCES

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Fig. 1.

Radiograph showing linear and angular measurement. DH, disc height; A, disc space angle; SP, spinous process distance.

Fig. 2.

Correlation between final disc height and neck pain and arm pain. There was no significant correlation. r, correlation coefficient.

Fig. 3.

Correlation between final disc space angle and neck pain and arm pain. There was no significant correlation. r, correlation coefficient.

Table 1.

Changes of radiographic parameters and clinical results.

	Preop	PO 1M	Last F/U
DH (mm)^∗	6.7±1.1	8.8±1.5	7.9±1.5
A ()^†	1.1±1.6	-3.4±2.8-	-1.8±2.4-
SP (mm)^‡	17.1±4.90	15.6±4.70	15.9±5.30
Neck VAS^§	63.9±6.90	35.3±8.50	33.1±6.10
Arm VAS^§	57.9±7.70	33.1±3.50	29.7±2.90

^∗ DH: disc height

^† A: disc space angle

^‡ SP: spinous process distance

^§ VAS: visual analogue scale

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