Background: anterior cervical discectomy and interbody fusion (ACDF) is a well-accepted management option for the treatment of persistent cervical radiculopathy or myelopathy due to cervical disc prolapse. Typically a fusion is performed to stabilize the segment, maintain foraminal height.
Objective: to prospectively analyze the effect of one-level ACDF, comparing stand-alone cages and cage-with-plate fixation constructs with respect to clinical outcomes and radiologic changes.
Patients and Methods: a total of 20 patients who underwent one-level for cervical disc disease and who completed 6 months of follow-up were included in this study. The patients were grouped into ACDF-Cage-only and ACDF-Cage-with-plate groups. The following parameters were assessed using radiographs: subsidence, adjacent disc space narrowing, clinical outcomes were assessed using the Odom's criteria.
Results: in the comparison of one-level ACDF-cage-only and ACDF-cage-with-plate groups, at the 3-and 6-months follow-up: Regarding the functional outcome in the plate group 6 (60%) patients had excellent outcome, 2 (20%) patients had good outcome, 1 (10%) had satisfactory and 1 (10%) had poor outcome, while in the cage group 7 (70%) patients had excellent outcome, 110%) had good outcome, 1 (10%) had satisfactory and 1 (10%) had poor outcome.
Conclusion: our results showed that for single-level cases, plate fixation had no additional benefit versus cage-only, although the cage-with-plate fixation group had a lower incidence of cage sinking than did the cage-only group. We conclude that physicians should be aware of these possible advantages and disadvantages associated with using cervical plates in one-level ACDF.