Results of anterior discectomy without fusion for treatment of cervical radiculopathy and myelopathy.

In this retrospective study 180 patients were submitted to anterior discectomy without fusion for cervical radiculopathy and myelopathy. Ninety-five patients presented with single-level discopathy, the main symptom being radiculopathy in this group. Eighty-five patients presented with multiple-level discopathy, the main symptom being myelopathy instead of radiculopathy. No serious complications were observed in either group. In the single-level discopathy group the improvement of the radiculopathy was 94.7% and of the myelopathy, 87.5%, whereas in the multiple-level discopathy group the improvement of the myelopathy was 57.1% and of the radiculopathy, 66.6%. It is concluded that anterior cervical discectomy without interbody fusion is a safe and effective surgical method for the treatment of radiculopathy and less so for myelopathy.