• Atul Goel, Saswat Dandpat, Abhidha Shah, Survendra Rai, and Ravikiran Vutha.
• Department of Neurosurgery, King Edward Memorial Hospital and Seth Gordhandas Sunderdas Medical College, Parel, Mumbai, India; Department of Neurosurgery, Lilavati Hospital and Research Centre, Bandra, Mumbai, India. Electronic address: atulgoel62@hotmail.com.
• World Neurosurg. 2020 Aug 1; 140: 614-621.

BackgroundThe rationale of only fixation without any kind of bone, ligament, disc, or osteophyte decompression as a treatment for single- or multiple-level cervical spinal degeneration was analyzed. The concept was based on the understanding that muscle weakness-related spinal instability is the cause of spinal degeneration, and spinal stabilization is the treatment.Materials And MethodsDuring the period June 2012 to June 2019, 215 patients with single- or multiple-level cervical spinal degeneration who presented with symptoms of radiculopathy and/or myelopathy were treated. Age range of patients was 35-76 years. The series included 194 men and 21 women. Patients with acute symptoms and disc herniation, prolapse, or extrusion were excluded from the analysis. Only spinal stabilization by deploying facet screw fixation techniques was done in all cases. No decompression by resection of any bone, soft tissue, disc, or osteophyte was done. The minimum follow-up was 6 months.ResultsPostoperative clinical outcome was measured using Japanese Orthopaedic Association score, Goel clinical grade, and visual analog scale score. In addition, 2 specialist neurosurgeons were recruited to assess clinical outcome. Clinical assessments and videos were used to document the outcome. There were no significant complications. Varying degree of clinical recovery was seen in all patients. None of the patients in the series underwent reoperation for persistence or recurrence of symptoms.ConclusionsInstability of spinal segments forms the basis of spinal degeneration. Stabilization forms the basis of surgical treatment. The role of decompression needs to be re-evaluated.Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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