Comparative evaluation of surgical alternatives in the treatment of acute cervical myelopathy and in the decompression of cervical spinal canal

Symptoms of cervical myelopathy are caused by the compression of the cervical spinal cord in the narrowed spinal canal. Several techniques including less invasive and minimally invasive methods have been developed with the aim of decompressing the cervical spinal canal, preserving posterior motion segments and paraspinal muscles as much as possible, reducing iatrogenic consequences and promoting faster recoveries of patients. The purpose of this article is to summarize these procedures and evaluate their efficacy with comparing them to each other. The applicable methods are presented shortly but the differences between them are discussed in details. Comprehensive examination did not reveal the proven superiority of any techniques and in most cases the less invasive or minimally invasive treatment choices should be individually determined, considering the location and extension of pathology and the familiarity of surgeon with techniques.