Comparison of Imaging Parameters between a New Cervical Full Lamina Back Shift Spinal Canal Enlargement Technique and Single Open-Door Laminoplasty for Multisegment Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy.

PURPOSE: To provide imaging evidence of the feasibility and clinical efficacy of a new full lamina back shift spinal canal enlargement technique.

METHODS

A retrospective analysis was conducted on 64 patients with multisegment cervical spondylotic myelopathy caused by cervical stenosis. Of these, 32 patients underwent the new full lamina back shift spinal canal enlargement technique (as observation group) and 32 patients underwent single open-door miniature titanium plate internal fixation (as control group). The computed tomography (CT) data of both groups were imported into Mimics 17.0 software to measure the median sagittal diameter and cross-sectional area of the spinal canal. Photoshop CS5 was employed to measure the drift distance of the spinal cord on MR images to perform a comparative study of the imaging parameters from the two groups.

RESULTS

The T2-weighted MR images in both groups showed continuous recovery of the cerebrospinal fluid signal in the C3 -C7 range. The enlarged spinal canal cross-sectional area (mm2 ) of each segment after the new full lamina back shift spinal canal enlargement technique was 130.90 ± 20.52 (C3 ), 180.81 ± 18.86 (C4 ), 240.48 ± 35.43 (C5 ), 145.93 ± 36.94 (C6 ), and 153.16 ± 36.28 (C7 ), and the enlarged median sagittal diameter (mm) was 5.31 ± 1.13 (C3 ), 8.8 ± 1.28 (C4 ), 10.28 ± 1.68 (C5 ), 9.46 ± 1.48 (C6 ), and 9.22 ± 1.12 (C7 ). Both parameters were significantly superior to single open-door miniature titanium plate internal fixation (P < 0.05). No significant difference was detected in the drift distance of the spinal cord between the two groups (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSION

The new full lamina back shift spinal canal enlargement technique achieved a thorough spinal canal decompression effect on imaging while ensuring a reasonable spinal drift distance and few surgical complications. The clinical curative effect of the new technique was precise.