This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Letters to the Editor: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when Letters to the Editor are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by WILLIAMS, J. L.
Right arrow Articles by HARKESS, J. W.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by WILLIAMS, J. L.
Right arrow Articles by HARKESS, J. W.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Technorati  
What's this?
Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, 1968;50:277-286.
© 1968 by The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Inc

Late Results of Cervical Discectomy and Interbody Fusion: Some Factors Influencing the Results

JOHN L. WILLIAMS M.D.1, MARSHALL B. ALLEN JR. M.D.1, and JAMES W. HARKESS M.B., CH.B.1

1 From the Neurosurgical and Orthopedic Services of the Eugene Talmadge Memorial Hospital and the Veterans Administration Hospital, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta

The symptoms, physical findings, and roentgenograms of sixty patients who underwent cervical discectomy and interbody fusion by the Robinson-Smith technique were reviewed and compared with the patient's condition two to nine years after surgery. On the basis of such a long-term evaluation, these patients were categorized and the findings were utilized to determine the factors that influence the results of surgery. These findings were as follows:

1. Patients with radicular symptoms had a higher rate of improvement than those whose symptoms were non-radicular. A positive correlation was found between satisfactory results and either motor or sensory deficits. This correlation was still greater when both motor and sensory findings were present.

2. Men tended to have much better results from discectomy than did women.

3. Occipital headaches and non-radicular symptoms as the predominant complaints tended to reduce the likelihood of a desirable result although some patients with such complaints were greatly improved.

4. A slight but definite correlation was obtained between the findings on roentgenograms of the cervical spine and the results of surgery. Patients with apparently normal cervical spines tended to have less desirable results than those with osteophyte formation or narrowing of the interspace or both.

5. The value of discography and myelography was not clearly defined by this evaluation. These methods are of secondary importance to the clinical evaluation.

6. Patients with correlating symptoms and signs of root compression had better results from surgery than did those whose treatment resulted in bone fusion, suggesting that the selection of patients for cervical discectomy may be more important than the obtaining of a bone fusion.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Anesth. Analg.Home page
S. P. Cohen and R. W. Hurley
The Ability of Diagnostic Spinal Injections to Predict Surgical Outcomes
Anesth. Analg., December 1, 2007; 105(6): 1756 - 1775.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 JBJSHome page
A. S. HILIBRAND, G. D. CARLSON, M. A. PALUMBO, P. K. JONES, and H. H. BOHLMAN
Radiculopathy and Myelopathy at Segments Adjacent to the Site of a Previous Anterior Cervical Arthrodesis
J. Bone Joint Surg. Am., April 1, 1999; 81(4): 519 - 28.
[Abstract] [Full Text]

Home page
 JBJSHome page
T. A. ZDEBLICK, S. S. HUGHES, K. D. RIEW, and H. H. BOHLMAN
Failed Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Arthrodesis. Analysis and Treatment of Thirty-five Patients
J. Bone Joint Surg. Am., April 1, 1997; 79(4): 523 - 32.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]