Anterior cervical foraminotomy for unilateral spondylotic radiculopathy

Anterior cervical foraminotomy (ACF) was developed under the concept of functional spine surgery, which directly eliminates compressive pathological factors while preserving functional anatomic features. The authors reviewed their results to determine the efficacy of the approach for unilateral cervical spondylotic radiculopathy (CSR). Nineteen patients were treated with the ACF with a follow-up from 12 to 36 months. There were 10 men and 9 women (mean age 49.8). Fourteen patients had a single ACF, and 5 had procedures at adjacent levels. The procedure involves microsurgical removal of the lateral portion of the uncinate process to identify the nerve root. Seventeen patients (89.5 %) were symptom-free or clearly improved, one (5.3 %) was unchanged and one patient (5.3 %) was worse in the visual analogue scale (VAS) score for radicular pain. One patient had developed contralateral foraminal stenosis at the level of the surgery and had undergone anterior discectomy and fusion. ACF provided good or excellent outcomes, with minimal morbidities, for patients with CSR. The advantages of ACF include direct decompression of the nerve root, and the preservation of the intervertebral disc and the motion segment. Thus, fusion-related sequelae, including graft-related complications, graft site complications and the adjacent level disease are avoided. The ACF procedure appears to be a good alternative for carefully selected patients with unilateral CSR.