• Weibo Yu, Bin Xie, Zhichao Fang, Zhensong Yao, Yuanming Zhong, and Xiaobing Jiang.
• Department of Orthopaedics, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, People's Republic of China; Department of Spinal Surgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, People's Republic of China.
• World Neurosurg. 2024 Mar 1; 183: e668e676e668-e676.

BackgroundTraditional C3-C7 unilateral open-door laminoplasty (UOLP) often leads to various postoperative complications as a result of damage of cervical posterior muscles and nuchal ligaments. We aimed to thoroughly evaluate postoperative outcomes after our modified UOLP versus traditional UOLP in treating multilevel cervical spondylotic myelopathy (MCSM).MethodsSeventy-six patients with MCSM who underwent the modified UOLP with C3 laminectomy and C7 upper hemilaminectomy (40 patients) or traditional C3-C7 UOLP (36 patients) were included. Preoperative and postoperative cervical radiologic parameters, as well as clinical and surgical outcomes, were evaluated.ResultsPostoperatively, Japanese Orthopaedic Association scores improved significantly more in the modified UOLP group than in the traditional UOLP group (P = 0.028), whereas visual analog scale scores and Neck Disability Index improved similarly in both groups. Follow-up scores for Japanese Orthopaedic Association, Neck Disability Index, and visual analog scale were not significantly different between the 2 groups. At the final follow-up, the C2-C7 sagittal vertical axis and T1 slope increased in the traditional UOLP group and did not change in the modified UOLP group and were unchanged in the modified UOLP group. The C2-C7 Cobb angle decreased significantly in the traditional UOLP group and did not change in the modified UOLP group. The modified UOLP group lost less cervical posterior muscle area compared with the traditional UOLP group (3.72% ± 3.54% vs. 6.67% ± 2.81%; P < 0.001). The range of motion in the modified UOLP group was significantly greater than in the traditional UOLP group at the final follow-up (P < 0.001). Also, the modified UOLP group experienced a notable reduction in operative time, blood loss volume, and postoperative hospital stay.ConclusionsWe recommend performing our modified UOLP with C3 laminectomy and C7 upper hemilaminectomy instead of traditional C3-C7 UOLP.Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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