MYELOGRAPHY IN THE LATE POSTOPERATIVE PERIOD IN PATIENTS SUBJECTED TOANTERIOR CERVICAL DECOMPRESSION AND FUSION

During a 13 year period, 286 patients with cervical disc herniation an d/or spondylotic spurs, were subjected to anterior decompression and v ertebral interbody fusion with autologous bone. Twenty patients were r e-admitted in the late postoperative period due to recurrent radicular symptoms and/or signs of myelopathy. In these patients myelography wa s performed again. In 14 patients spinal cord compression and/or nerve root involvement at a new level was visualized. At the operated level , however, the myelograms demonstrated a smooth anterior wall in the s pinal canal. The series confirms the safety, effectiveness and reliabi lity of the Cloward procedure in achieving long term spinal cord and n erve root decompression, and a solid vertebral interbody fusion.