Reoperations according to the type of implant applied in cervical discopathies

Author(s): BOGDAN KITLIŃSKI, MAREK HARAT, ANDRZEJ LEBIODA, DARIUSZ PACZKOWSKI, RENATA GRYSZKO

Surgical treatment of cervical discopathy involves decompression of the vertebral canal accompanied by stabilization of the spinal segment undergoing the surgery. The material consists of 1904 patients. The patients in question were operated on in the period from 2001 till mid-2009, successively with the Cloward method, with an application of titanium interbody inserted implants and carbon implants filled with synthetic bone. The cases of reoperation were evaluated in the early period (up to 1 month) and in the late period (over 1 month). Contingency tables and the Chi2 test on the significance level 0.05 were used for evaluation purposes. The highest reoperation rate was found, successively, in the groups with the application of a bone peg, titanium cage, carbon cage without spikes and with spikes. No case of reoperation was observed after an application of Cornerstone, C-Disc (without spikes), C-Disc (with spikes) and Neocif. The number of early and distant complications constitutes only a small percentage, which proves that good stabilization was achieved. The use of inserted interbody stabilizers with additional spikes reduces the number of cases with implant dislocation and postoperative instability as compared to implants where the contact area has no spikes.