To assess the effectiveness and safety of heterograft spacer (Lubboc) as a substitute for autograft in cervical laminoplasty.

21 patients with cervical myelopathy were treated by spinous process splitting laminoplasty using heterograft intraspinous spacers. The clinical and the radiographic evaluations were checked pre- and postoperatively.

The average JOA score was increased from 8.7 preoperatively to 12.9 at the final follow-up with a average recovery rate of 60.6%. Preoperative spinal canal diameter, 14.7 ± 1.4 mm were improved to 20.1 ± 1.8 mm postoperatively and canal to body ratio, 0.75 ± 0.10 to 1.02 ± 0.11 in average. The intraspinous spacer, heterograft demonstrated fragmentation and partial resorption mainly at the level of C3, 4, 5 from postoperative 2 months, but showed no clinical deterioration in spite of radiographic changes of heterograft.

We think that heterograft spacer is one of the safe and effective substitutes for autograft in maintaining the improved postoperative radiographic indeces.