Open-door Laminoplasty with Preservation of Muscle Attachments of C2 and C7 for Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy: Retrospective Study

AIM: Some restriction and complications, such as progression of kyphosis, incidence of axial neck pain and decrease of postoperative cervical range of motion are concern. We designed this retrospective clinical study to evaluate the effect of laminoplasty by preserving the muscle attachments of C2 and C7 spinous processes on range of motion (ROM), axial neck pain and cervical lordosis. MATERIAL and METHODS: Twenty-seven cases with cervical spondylotic myelopathy underwent open-door laminoplasty with the protection of muscle attachments to the C2 and C7 spinous process and laminae between 2007 and 2013. At the end of the follow-up, cases were evaluated with preoperative and postoperative modified Japanese Orthopedic Association (mJOA) scores, recovery rate, ROM, lordosis angle and visual analogue scale (VAS). Also, patients were divided into two groups and evaluated according to the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings, with or without T2 signal change. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 66 years. The mean follow-up duration was 25 months. The postoperative mJOA scores were significantly higher than the preoperative mJOA scores (p<0.001). The recovery rate was 57.4%. Although the postoperative VAS score was higher than the preoperative VAS score and the mean postoperative ROM was lower than the preoperative ROM there was no significant difference between preoperative and postoperative VAS score and ROM (p>0.05). The postoperative lordosis angle was significantly lower than the preoperative lordosis angle (p<0.05). There were no significant differences regarding the postoperative lordosis angle, ROM and mJOA scores with or without T2 signal change on MRI. CONCLUSION: Protection of the anatomic structures around the cervical spine such as the muscles and ligaments provides us better results regarding ROM and cervical axial pain.