Interspinous wiring without bone grafting for nonunion or delayed union following anterior spinal fusion of the cervical spine.

Nine patients who had unsuccessful anterior interbody fusion or subtotal spondylectomy and fusion for cervical spondylosis were treated by interspinous wiring without bone grafting. Bone union was confirmed during a mean postoperative period of 2 years and 2 months in seven patients by the disappearance of clear zones observed preoperatively in the disc space, and by continuity of the trabeculae in radiograms. One of the two patients in whom the procedure failed to unite the site of nonunion had received technically inadequate wiring with slight mobility at the wiring site; in the other patient, the grafted bone had collapsed and no sclerotic shadow of the nonunion site was seen at the time of surgery. Both patients underwent wiring after considerable intervals from the time of the initial anterior spinal fusion. We found that satisfactory bone union can be obtained for nonunion or delayed union following anterior cervical spinal fusion by interspinous wiring without further bone grafting if applied to properly selected patients.