Turkish Neurosurgery
Is stand-alone posterior cervical pedicle screw fixation sufficient to correct cervical postlaminectomy kyphosis?
Yurdal Gezercan1, Semih Kivanc Olguner1, Ferhat Harman2, Baris Arslan3
1Adana City Training and Research Hospital, Neurosurgery, Adana,
2Marmara University Faculty of Medicine, Neurosurgery, Istanbul,
3Adana City Training and Research Hospital, Anesthesiology, Adana,
DOI: 10.5137/1019-5149.JTN.36249-21.3

Aim:Cervical postlaminectomy kyphosis (PLK) is a complex spinal pathology and cervical pedicle fixation is a known technique used when performing deformity surgeries. This study is the first in the literature to share the clinical processes of patients with cervical PLK who underwent stand-alone posterior pedicle fixation surgery.Material and Methods:The results of 21 cervical PLK patients treated using the pedicle screw method between 2015 and 2018 were retrospectively examined. Patient data included demographic information and indications for surgery. Furthermore, the following criteria were calculated for each patient: the cervical sagittal vertical axis (cSVA), C2-7 cervical lordosis (CL) parameters, Modified Japanese Orthopedic Association (mJOA) score, Neck Disability Index (NDI) score and Visual Analog Scale (VAS) score and these were evaluated preoperatively and postoperatively statistically. Results:A total of 21 patients with PLK were evaluated. In terms of radiographic parameters, postoperative cSVA was significantly lower than the preoperative cSVA and postoperative CL was significantly higher than the preoperative CL (p < 0.001, p < 0.001, respectively). Postoperative mJOA scores were significantly higher than preoperative mJOA scores (p < 0.001). Both postoperative NDI and VAS scores were significantly lower than preoperative NDI and VAS scores (p < 0.001, p < 0.001 respectively). Conclusion:Pedicle screw fixation was found to be an effective treatment for cervical PLK. Although this technique is not preferred by many spine surgeons due to the high complication rate, it has a positive effect on the quality-of-life scores and provides optimal correction.

Corresponding author : Yurdal Gezercan