Clinical results following enlargement of the cervical spinal canal by means of laminoplasty.

Since 1978, cervical spinal canal laminoplasty has been performed on 75 patients in our hospital with cervical radiculomyelopathy and followed with studies of from 6 months to 8 years (average 4 years and 6 months). Overall results: the pre-operative score, using the Japanese Orthopaedic Association Scoring System, was 7.4 and the post-operative score was 15.2; the improvement was 81.0%. In congenital spinal stenosis, the average pre-operative score was 6.3 while the post-operative score was 14.2; the improvement was 66.9%. The pre-operative score of multiple disc lesions was 7.9 and the post-operative score was 15.2; the improvement was 82.8%. And the pre-operative score of OPLL was 7.3 and the post-operative score was 15.3; the improvement was 81.9%. Improvement may be due not only to the degree of enlargement of the spinal canal, but also to improvement in the circulation within the spinal cord and nerve roots. No case worsened after the surgery.