Preliminary experience with anterior interbody titanium cage fusion for treatment of cervical disc disease

This study evaluated the efficacy and safety of titanium cage implants in cervical reconstruction to treat cervical spondylosis. Surgical data covered a 4-year period from January 1999 to December 2002 and included 34 consecutive patients, 20 men and 14 women, with ages ranging from 27 to 84 years (mean, 57 years). Patients underwent anterior cervical microdiscectomy followed by interbody fusion with a titanium cage implant (rather than an autogenous iliac crest bone graft) at a single level ranging from C3 to C7. Twenty-one patients had a herniated intervertebral disc, nine had degenerative disc disease, and four had previous failed autograft fusion surgery that required revision. At clinical presentation, 26 patients had neck pain, 23 had radiculopathy, and nine had myelopathy. Diagnostic imaging studies included spinal dynamic roentgenography, computerized tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging. Lesions were located at C3-4 in seven cases, C4-5 in 14 cases, C5-6 in nine cases, and C6-7 in four cases. The follow-up period ranged from 7 to 48 months (mean, 26 months). Results revealed that the procedure was technically feasible. There were no intra- or postoperative complications. The most commonly used cage was 9 mm high. Imaging studies showed no cage instability, migration, or pseudarthrosis. Although mild subsidence (< 5 mm) was observed in three cases, these patients preserved adequate postoperative cervical lordosis and the subsidence did not preclude a good clinical result. The advantages of this procedure over a similar operation using traditional tricorticate bone graft are: no graft morbidity; shorter operation time (mean time saved, 35 minutes); reduced blood loss (average blood loss, 75 mL); and early postoperative ambulation (mean, 4.7 hospital days). Nearly all patients rapidly lost their neck pain (92%, 24/26) and radicular symptoms (87%, 20/23) after surgery. The recovery rate from myelopathy was 44% (4/9). Progressive bony shield formation over the anterior/posterior cortex (sentinel sign) indicated fusion in five cases.