Abstract
Objective: To describe the long-term pain outcomes of patients who have had anterior cervical discectomy at 1 or 2 levels without fusion for cervical disc prolapse.
Method: This retrospective study reviewed the medical records of all 74 patients who underwent anterior cervical discectomy without fusion at King Fahd Hospital of the University (KFHU), Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia, between June 1998 and August 2007. All patients were evaluated using the Meuhlbauer et al scoring system from 2 to 9 years after operation.
Results: Seventy-four patients were evaluated clinically by Meublbauer et al scoring system for at least 2 years post-operatively. The dramatic improvements in pain scoring system and root-related deficit scoring system were documented.
Conclusions: Our results indicate that anterior cervical discectomy without fusion is an effective decompression technique for treating pain due to cervical disc disease in properly selected patients.