Oblique Cervical Corpectomy in Treatment of Cervical Myeloradiculopathy

Abstract

D egenerative spondylotic myeloradiculopathy is a common disease that is thought to be the result of chronic, repetitive compressive damage to the cervical spinal cord and roots which is a common cause of radicular pain and weakness in the arms and progressive leg weakness, spasticity, and gait disturbance in the later decades of life. It has been surgically treated by various means: subtotal corpectomies with strut grafting, multiple discectomies with or without interbody fusions, anterior foraminotomy, laminectomy, and laminoplasty. However, the choice of the most appropriate surgical approach for this condition is still controversial. Oblique corpectomy is a new technique. It has been reported for the first time in 1992. Since 1992, the technique of multilevel oblique corpectomy (MOC) has been applied at Lariboisière Hospital for the surgical treatment of spondylotic myeloradiculopathy and a first series has been published in 1999. From this time, several teams have done many studies and confirmed favorable outcome.