Midline trough corpectomies for the evacuation of an extensive ventral cervical and upper thoracic spinal epidural...

The author reports on a 59-year-old woman with a history of a chronic, nonhealing skin ulcer who presented with sepsis, neck pain, and rapidly progressive quadriparesis. Precontrast and postcontrast MR imaging studies revealed a multifocal ventral cervical and upper thoracic spinal epidural abscess. Compression of the spinal cord from the abscess was greatest behind the disc space of C2-3 and C7-T1. Because of the patient's tenuous medical status, the author elected to apply a technique that would allow expeditious decompression without necessitating concomitant fusion and instrumentation. Multilevel, contiguous trough corpectomies were performed for evacuation of the compressive lesions. A high-speed matchstick bur was used to create a 5- to 7-mm midline trough in the vertebrae and intervening disc spaces from C-2 to T-3. Rapid and successful decompression of the entire ventral cervical and upper thoracic epidural space was achieved using this technique. Understanding that the surgical treatment of discitis or osteomyelitis can often result in a kyphotic deformity or frank instability, the patient was immobilized in a cervical collar following surgery and underwent vigilant monitoring with serial plain radiographs, CT scans, and MR images. These neuroimaging studies confirmed complete resolution of the abscess and the slow development of a mild, stable kyphotic deformity. At the 1-year follow-up, the patient was ambulating and had returned to work. A trough corpectomy is a viable surgical approach that allows for rapid decompression of ventral cervical and upper thoracic epidural abscesses while obviating the need for same-setting fusion and fixation.