Posterior cervical fusion with triple-wire strut graft technique: one hundred consecutive patients.

One hundred consecutive patients were treated by the triple-wire stabilization and fusion technique for acute cervical trauma (36 patients), rheumatoid arthritis (27 patients), degenerative osteoarthritis (20 patients), congenital deformities (13 patients), or neoplasms (11 patients). The triple wire technique developed by Bohlman is versatile enough to be used at any level of the cervical spine, with 60 patients undergoing subaxial fusions, 20 with atlantoaxial fusions, and 20 with stabilization to the occiput. The immediate stability is evidenced by the fact that only two of 60 subaxial triple-wire stabilizations required the use of a Halovest, 58 being managed postoperatively in two-poster orthosis. The fusion rate was 100% for subaxial fusions. The only pseudarthrosis occurred in an occiput to C2 triple wire fixation procedure, which was managed nonoperatively. There were no iatrogenic neurologic complications, unlike the use of techniques utilizing sublaminar wires, and there were no cervical infections.