Assessment of Biomechanical Advantages in Combined Anterior-Posterior Cervical Spine Surgery by Radiological Outcomes: Pedicle Screws over Lateral Mass Screws.

BACKGROUND

The combined anterior-posterior approach has shown good clinical outcomes for multilevel cervical diseases. This work describes the biomechanical advantage of cervical-pedicle-screw fixation over lateral-mass-screw fixation in combined anterior-posterior cases.

METHOD

Seventy-six patients who received combined cervical surgery from June 2013 to December 2020 were included. The patients were divided into two groups: the lateral-mass-screw group (LMS) and the pedicle-screw group (PPS). Radiological outcomes were assessed with lateral cervical spine X-rays for evaluating sagittal alignment, subsidence, and bone remodeling.

RESULTS

At 1 year postoperatively, the numbers of patients whose C2-C7 cervical lordosis was less than 20 degrees decreased by more in the PPS group (-value = 0.001). The amount of vertical-length change from immediately to 1 year postsurgery was less in the PPS group than in the LMS group (-value = 0.030). The mean vertebral-body-width change was larger in the PPS group than in the LMS group during 3 months to 1 year postsurgery (-value = 0.000).

CONCLUSIONS

In combined anterior-posterior cervical surgery cases, maintenance of cervical lordosis and protection of the vertebral body from subsidence were better with the pedicle-screw fixation. More bone remodeling occurred when using the pedicle-screw fixation method.