Surgery-related Factors Do Not Affect Short-term Adjacent Segment Kinematics After Anterior Cervical Arthrodesis

Prospective cohort study.

The aim of this study was to identify surgical factors that affect adjacent segment kinematics after anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) as measured by biplane radiography.

Previous studies investigated the effect of surgical factors on spine kinematics as a potential etiology for adjacent segment disease (ASD). Those studies used static flexion-extension radiographs to evaluate range of motion. However, measurements from static radiographs are known to be unreliable. Furthermore, those studies were unable to evaluate the effect of ACDF on adjacent segment axial rotation.

Patients had continuous cervical spine flexion/exten- sion and axial rotation movements captured at 30 images per second in a dynamic biplane radiography system preoperatively and 1 year after ACDF. Digitally reconstructed radiographs generated from subject-specific CT scans were matched to biplane radiographs using a previously validated tracking process. Dynamic kinematics, postoperative segmental kyphosis, and disc distraction were calculated from this tracking process. Plate-to-disc distance was measured on postoperative radiographs. Graft type was collected from the medical record. Multivariate linear regression was performed to identify surgical factors associated with 1-year post-surgery changes in adjacent segment kinematics. A secondary analysis was also performed to compare adjacent segment kinematics between each of the surgical factors and previously defined thresholds believed to be associated with adjacent segment degeneration.

Fifty-nine patients completed preoperative and postoperative testing. No association was found between any of the surgical factors and change in adjacent segment flexion/exten- sion or axial rotation range of motion (all P > 0.09). The secondary analysis also did not identify differences between adjacent segment kinematics and surgical factors (all P > 0.07).

Following ACDF for cervical spondylosis, factors related to surgical technique were not associated with short-term changes in adjacent segment kinematics that reflect the hypermobility hypothesized to lead to the development of ASD.Level of Evidence: 2.