The authors describe the technique and clinical outcomes with the posterior
endoscopic cervical spinal cord compression to treat cervical spondylotic myelopathy.
A total of twenty-two cervical spondylotic myelopathy patients were treated with
endoscopic spine surgery fusion from January 2015 to June 2017 at the Medical School
of Chinese PLA. The operation time, intraoperative blood loss, and hospitalization stay
were recorded and compared. Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) scores before
the operation, three months, and one year after operation were recorded and analyzed.
There were twenty-two cases in the spinal endoscopy group. There were significant
differences in preoperative JOA scores three months after surgery and one year after
surgery. The JOA scores were significantly increased after surgery, and the symptoms
gradually improved postoperatively. Clinical outcomes were Excellent in 81.8% of
patients. The efficacy and safety of endoscopic spinal surgery for single-level cervical
spondylotic myelopathy were established. The operation time, the intraoperative blood
loss, and the hospitalization stay were reduced compared to historical numbers for
competing decompression and fusion procedures.
Keywords: Cervical spondylotic myelopathy, Decompression, Gait imbalance,
Laminectomy, Motion preservation, Non-fusion, Posterior cervical approach,
Spinal cord compression, Spinal endoscopy, Upper motor neuron dysfunction.