Surgery of Cervical Myelopathy

Fifty-two patients operated on for this type of spondylogenic myelo- pathy by the anterior approach were reexamined. The male: female re- lation was 2 : 1. Fifty percent were males in the 5th decade. About 20% had a congenital narrow spinal canal with an ap-diameter below the minimal standard values (3). The maximum of spondylogenic narrow- ing was found between C4 and C6 in 2/3 of the cases. Results: good 44%, satisfactory 31%, unchanged 13%, deteriorated 12%, mortality O. The duration of the neurological symptoms before operation had no in- fluence on the surgical results. Final neurological restitution was reached within 1 week to 3 months after the operation. The operative results in patients with congenital narrow spinal canal showed the same percentual distribution as the results of the entire group. No factors could be found to explain the groups of unsatisfactory results. References 1. DECKING, D. , STEEGE, W. ter: Rontgenologische ParametAr der Hals- wirbelsaule im seitlichen Strahlengang. Die Wirbelsaule in Forschung und Praxis, ~ (1975) 2. HERRMANN, H. D. : Neurologie in Praxis und Klinik. HOPF, H. C. , POECK, K. , SCHLIACK, N. (Hrsg. ). Stuttgart: Thieme (in press) 3. PIEPGRAS, U. : Neuroradiologie. S. 88-89. Stuttgart: Thieme 1977 114 Classification and Prognosis of Cervical Myelopathy E. HAMEL, R. A FROWEIN, and A KARIMI-NEJAD Introduction Up to the present, 104 patients with cervical myelopathy caused by cervical disk lesions, have been operated on in our clinic.