Prospective study of anterior cervical microforaminotomy for cervical radiculopathy

Cervical radiculopathy caused by a posterolateral disc herniation or spondylosis is a common pathology. Decompression of a stressed cervical nerve root is a routine neurosurgical procedure. To determine the safety and effectiveness of anterior cervical microforaminotomy (ACM), we prospectively studied patients undergoing this treatment at our institution to determine the efficacy of the approach for the treatment of unilateral cervical spondylotic or discogenic radiculopathy. Twenty-five patients were treated with ACM and were followed up for 15-40 months. Clinical signs, neurological results, and complications were recorded. Radiological imaging studies for measurement of post-operative changes were performed to evaluate spinal stability and effectiveness of the ACM procedure. We used MRI, axial cervical CT and reconstructive sagittal cervical CT to assess foraminal decompression. Eight men and 17 women (mean age 51.8 years) were included in this study. Nineteen patients had a single ACM, and six underwent procedures at adjacent 19 levels. The ACM procedure involves microsurgical removal of the lateral portion of the uncinate process to identify the nerve root. Post-operatively, none of the patients' conditions had worsened symptomatically or neurologically. A positive outcome at last follow-up examination was achieved in all patients. The visual analoge scale pain rating was 6.36 pretreatment and 0.64 after 1 year (p<0.0001). ACM appears to be a good alternative procedure, and a good non-fusion disc-preserving technique. Disc and bone resections are minimal in carefully selected patients with unilateral cervical radiculopathy. This method avoids osteoarthrodesis or arthroplasty with disc prostheses.