[Surgery by anterior approach in cervical myelopathy with a narrow canal]

Twenty four patients with spastic paraparesis due to cervical myelopathy were operated on by the anterior approach. They all received anterior cervical discectomy and/or osteophytes resection with the operating microscope, without fusion. There were no deaths and no one deteriorated after surgery. The results in the 21 patients with a year or more of post-operative follow-up are described. Seven had a congenital narrow canal associated with discopathy, with a history of up to 9 years. In 6, the spastic paraparesis improved, in 2, dramatically. One patient had no change. The other 14 patients had a normal cervical canal. Eight had an excellent result, and only one did not improve. The patients with a narrow canal were a little worse than those with a normal canal, but both groups are not quite comparable. More experience is needed, but the evidence suggest that the anterior approach give good results in cervical myelopathy with discopathy associated with narrow canal, without mortality or post-operative deterioration.