Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion: analysis of surgical outcome with and without plating

The aim of this study is to analyse the differences in clinical and radiological outcome of anterior cervical discectomy and fusion for cervical degenerative disease, with and without the addition of an anterior cervical locking plate. Although disc arthoplasty is gaining popularity, the anterior cervical decompression and fusion procedure remains the gold standard. The outcome of 242 cases operated between 1991 to 1998 were analysed. Two groups of patients were operated on by the same surgeon. The only difference in technique between the two groups was the addition of an anterior cervical plate, with all other technical details matching, including the use of iliac crest autograft. The indications for surgery for both groups was identical. We made an attempt to study radiological fusion, clinical outcome and complications between the non-plated and plated groups. Our main finding is that the addition of an anterior plate reduces the number of poor clinical outcomes, but does not increase the number of excellent outcomes. Anterior discectomy and fusion with plating in our series had a significantly higher fusion rate; 98% fusion was noted in the plating group as compared to 93.5% in the non-plating group (Fisher’s exact test, p = 0.029). Union was faster in the plated group with no significant increase in surgical complications. Although clinical outcomes were superior in the plated group for the radiculopathy cohort, excellent outcomes were not significantly higher as compared to the non-plated group. The non-plated group had a significantly higher rate of poor outcomes, with 10% of patients requiring revision surgery for non-union, kyphosis, graft extrusion and graft collapse with foraminal stenosis. 1.8% of the plated group required revision surgery.