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Updated: Oct 21, 2025
Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion in the Ovine Model
Published on: October 5, 2009
Operative treatment of cervical radiculopathy: anterior cervical decompression and fusion compared with posterior
Marek Holy1, Anna MacDowall2, Freyr Gauti Sigmundsson3
1Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Örebro University School of Medical Sciences, Örebro University Hospital, Örebro, Sweden. Marek.holy@regionorebrolan.se.
Background:
Cervical radiculopathy is the most common disease in the cervical spine, affecting patients around 50-55 year of age. An operative treatment is common clinical praxis when non-operative treatment fails. The controversy is in the choice of operative treatment, conducting either anterior cervical decompression and fusion or posterior foraminotomy. The study objective is to evaluate short- and long-term outcome of anterior cervical decompression and fusion (ACDF) and posterior foraminotomy (PF) METHODS: A multicenter prospective randomized controlled trial with 1:1 randomization, ACDF vs. PF including 110 patients. The primary aim is to evaluate if PF is non-inferior to ACDF using a non-inferiority design with ACDF as "active control." The neck disability index (NDI) is the primary outcome measure, and duration of follow-up is 2 years.
Discussion:
Due to absence of high level of evidence, the authors believe that a RCT will improve the evidence for using the different surgical treatments for cervical radiculopathy and strengthen current surgical treatment recommendation.
Trial Registration:
ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04177849. Registered on November 26, 2019.
