Summary of Key Points • Minimally invasive (MIS) cervical options include both anterior and posterior approaches with the decision on approach requiring a full understanding of the clinical picture and…
Summary of Key Points • Anterior subaxial cervical fixation is still relatively new. • Current fixation techniques involve the use of titanium plates and screws. • Polyetheretherketone and carbon fiber…
Summary of Key Points • Spine biomechanics is the application of basic engineering and physics principles to a biologic structure, the spinal column. The right-handed Cartesian coordinate system is routinely…
Summary of Key Points • Use of multistranded cables has made passage of sublaminar cables safer. • Passage of the leader wire with the cables is most likely to cause…
Summary of Key Points • Laminoplasty is a procedure to enlarge the cervical spinal canal. • There are two basic categories of laminoplasty commonly used today: unilateral (hinge) laminoplasty and…
Summary of Key Points • Many of the complications associated with anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) can be avoided by performing properly indicated surgery, employing careful preoperative planning, and…
Summary of Key Points • The endoscopic transnasal approaches provides a direct surgical trajectory to anteriorly located lesions at the craniocervical junction. • Clinical series demonstrate low rates of postoperative…
Summary of Key Points • Corpectomy is favored over multilevel anterior discectomy in cases of long segment ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament, trauma causing disruption of the vertebral body,…
Summary of Key Points • Posterior cervical instrumentation is useful in stabilizing subaxial cervical spine instability, which may be due to degeneration, trauma, iatrogenic, neoplasia, and infection. • Instrumentation options…
Summary of Key Points • The ventral approach is appropriate for a discectomy, corpectomy, fusion, and instrumentation. • The ventrolateral approach is also appropriate for a decompression of the vertebral…
