Ra. Mcguire et K. Stjohn, COMPARISON OF ANTERIOR CERVICAL FUSIONS USING AUTOGENOUS BONE-GRAFT OBTAINED FROM THE CERVICAL-VERTEBRAE TO THE MODIFIED SMITH-ROBINSON TECHNIQUE, Journal of spinal disorders, 7(6), 1994, pp. 499-503
Anterior cervical discectomy and interbody grafting provide excellent
results in treating cervical radiculopathy. This prospective study com
pares the results of the technique obtaining autogenous bone from the
cervical vertebrae for grafting to the modified Smith-Robinson techniq
ue using autogenous iliac crest graft. Seven levels in six patients we
re fused using the vertebral body autograft technique and 43 levels in
40 patients using the standard technique. All patients had radiculopa
thy and neck pain. Statistically significant differences in fusion rat
e (4/7 vertebral body autograft; 40/43 modified Smith-Robinson) (p = 0
.029), disc height maintenance (p = 0.001), and neck pain improvement
(p = 0.05) occurred between the techniques. We do not recommend verteb
ral body autograft over the modified Smith-Robinson technique for ante
rior cervical fusion following discectomy.