[Cervical spinal cord compression caused by ossification of the posterior vertebral ligament. Apropos of a case]

Progressive cervical myelopathy due to an ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL) appeared in a sicilian women. Diagnosis was made by lateral conventional tomograms and CT Scan with mielography. Corporectomy of the 5th vertebra and ablation of the ligament dramatically improved the clinical symptoms. If OPLL seems a common cause of cervical myelopathy in Japan, it is very rate in Caucasian people. Instead of the origin of the patients, progressive tetraparesis of the 60 years old people is the usual presentation of this affection. The cause of OPLL remains unknown: genetic factors, vitamin A, association with diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis, calcium metabolism abnormalities are discussed. As far as surgical treatment is concerned, choice between anterior and posterior decompression is clarified on the basis of the type and the extension of OPLL.