Background: The modern paradigm for managing cervical disc diseases uses both ventral and dorsal approaches, with ventral procedures being more common. The ventral procedures consist primarily of discectomy, followed by fusion. The symptoms and syndromes of cervical disc diseases can be mimicked by a number of other neurological disorders.
Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of polyetheretherketone (PEEK) cage only in four levels anterior cervical discectomy as one of surgical option other than anterior cervical corpectomy, fixation by plat or posterior approach for cervical laminectomy, and assessment of post spinal surgery pain.
Patients and Methods: This was a prospective study including twenty adult patients with symptomatic four levels cervical disc disease operated upon by anterior cervical discectomy with inter-body cage fusion in the Neurosurgery Department at Al-Hussein University Hospital and Sednawy Health Insurance Hospital. The study was performed through the period from January 2018 to June 2020, and the follow up period was 24 months.
Results: At the time of diagnosis, the most common symptoms presented were neck pain, brachialgia, heaviness of the lower limbs, and urinary incontinence. All patients were managed by anterior cervical discectomy and fusion by stand-alone PEEK cages for four levels. The mean preoperative visual analogue score (VAS) was 6.05± 1.14 and reached 2.15 ± 0.58 by the 24^th month postoperative.
Conclusion: The procedure of multi-level anterior cervical discectomy with PEEK inter body cage fusion without plate fixation at four levels appeared safe and efficient, with improvement in long-term outcomes for pain and myelopathy, short inpatient hospital stay, and potentially short procedure duration.