Results of posterior cervical foraminotomy for treatment of cervical spondylitic radiculopathy

We evaluated the results of posterior cervical foraminotomy for spondylitic radiculopathy using a questionnaire sent to all 77 patients who had underg one surgery between 1990 and 1995 at our institution. Sixty-two patients (4 0 male) returned their questionnaires, one of whom had undergone two proced ures (dealt with as separate events). Sixty patients complained of pre-oper ative arm pain; of these 42 (70%) had complete or >75% resolution of their pain, 14 (23%) had <75% improvement in their pain and four (7%) had the sam e or worsened pain at the time of the questionnaire. Sixteen patients (27%) reported initial improvement in symptoms with subsequent deterioration. Th e mean patient satisfaction score using a linear analogue scale from 0 to 1 0 was 7.5. Main postoperative complaints were neck pain (22%), persisting m otor deficit (6%) and persisting sensory deficit (9%). One patient suffered nerve root damage at surgery. For unilateral and, in some cases, multileve l degenerative disease causing cervical radiculopathy, posterior cervical f oraminotomy is a useful technique with the advantage of avoiding fusion, im mobilization and the long-term risk of instability.