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Cervical corpectomy is a cervical spine surgery procedure that involves the near complete removal of the cervical (neck) vertebrae. A cervical corpectomy is designed to relieve pressure on the spinal cord due to spinal stenosis or severe degenerative disc disease by decompressing the spinal cord and reconstructing it with bone graft and at times titanium spacers. This surgical procedure is most commonly used to treat complex reconstructions of cervical myelopathy, spinal tumors, and spinal trauma.
This cervical surgery is done from the front of the neck (anterior). The vertebral bodies affected are removed and the spinal cord and nerve roots are decompressed . Once removed, the spinal surgeon will prepare a bone graft to fill in the space where the cervical discs and vertebral bodies have been removed and provide support to the vertebrae. Patients are often fitted with a rigid neck brace to support the neck while the graft and bones fuse together.
Depending on the specific problem, cervical corpectomy may involve multiple levels and be accompanied by a posterior cervical laminectomy and fusion. Patients undergoing cervical corpectomy generally have conditions that threaten the spinal cord and function. Cervical corpectomy, in most cases, achieves spinal cord decompression and fusion. |
