Recently, a case of Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion was performed at Aster Hospital, Mankhool.
The patient a 37 years old labourer who suffered from deep-seated ,continuous pain and radiculopathy to the occipital region and bilateral shoulders which became more severe since 1 month. He was unable to sit still due to pain and had not slept since weeks. He began to develop Paraesthesias in his upper limbs as well. He had no history of trauma or systemic illness and was treated with medicines and physiotherapy which did not give any significant relief. His x- ray and MRI scan of the neck were done which showed significant disc prolapse of c3- c4 and a milder bulge c4- c5 disc bulge.
He underwent elective anterior cervical discectomy and fusion c3 -c4 with stand alone ( Integrated) cage and screw system (STALIF) fixation and synthetic bone substitute ( Kasios).The advantage of this implant is that it is not protruding anterior to the plane of the anterior longitudinal ligament and does not cause any pressure on the vitals structures of the neck such as the trachea or oesophagus. This is what we call “Zero profile implant” which is one of the latest advances in fixation and fusion techniques.
The patient is recovering well during the post op period and has complete relief of radicular pain and Paraesthesia. His post op pain and dysphagia is almost completely subsided by 7 day post OP. He is now using a soft cervical collar and started on static cervical spinal exercises.
Dr. Alexis Dominic Xavier,
MBBS, MS
Specialist in Orthopedics
Aster Hospital
