La chirurgia anteriore nella patologia degenerativa del rachide cervicale: Sintesi rigida o protesi discale?

The purpose of this study is to compare functional outcomes and radiographic results of 35 patients affected by cervical discopathy or disc herniation at one level, which were treated at our Department from 1999 to 2004 with artificial cervical disc replacement (15 cases) or anterior fusion (20 cases) by means of cages or plate-cages. Both groups had similar age, gender, surgical approach and pre-operative Neck Disability Index and Visual Analogue Scale scores. Disc prosthesis compared favourably to anterior cervical fusion, with improvements in the Neck Disability Index and Visual Analogue Scale scores at the minimum 2 years follow up.