• Daniel Zeitouni, Deborah Pfortmiller, Steve H Monk, Deveney Franklin, David Cowan, Isabel Tenorio, E Hunter Dyer, Mark D Smith, Paul K Kim, Domagoj Coric, Tim E Adamson, and Vincent J Rossi.
• Department of Neurological Surgery, Atrium Health Neurological Surgery, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Neurosurgery & Spine Associates, Charlotte, USA. Electronic address: Daniel.zetiouni@atriumhealth.org.
• World Neurosurg. 2023 Dec 1; 180: e729e732e729-e732.

ObjectiveCervical microendoscopic laminoforaminotomy (MELF) has been proven to be an effective, motion preserving procedure for the surgical treatment of cervical radiculopathy. Cervical 4 (C4) radiculopathies are often unrecognized by the initial evaluating physician and may be misdiagnosed as axial neck pain. In this study, we compare MELF to anterior cervical disk fusion (ACDF) for C4 radiculopathy in the largest series of minimally invasive foraminotomy for C4 radiculopathy to date.MethodsThis is a single-institution retrospective chart review of 42 cases for C4 radiculopathy, 21 MELF and 21 ACDF. Primary outcome measures were length of surgery, length of hospital stay, and time to return to work. Secondary outcome measures were visual analog scale (VAS) neck pain and reoperation rate.ResultsAll patients were diagnosed with a unilateral C4 radiculopathy using magnetic resonance imaging or steroid injections. The length of surgery and length of hospital stay were significantly decreased in the MELF group compared with ACDF. VAS neck pain significantly decreased for patients in both groups, but the difference between MELF and ACDF was not statistically significant. There were no major complications. No patient underwent revision at the index level or adjacent levels in the MELF group.ConclusionsWe demonstrate that C4 radiculopathy can be identified with appropriate history, physical examination, and targeted nerve root injections. When identified, these radiculopathies that fail conservative therapy can be effectively treated with cervical microendoscopic laminoforaminotomy, with comparable outcomes to ACDF. The length of surgery and length of stay are reduced when compared with ACDF.Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

23 keywords...

hide…