[Analysis of clinical efficacy of unilateral open-door cervical laminoplasty combined with foraminotomy for cervical ossification of posterior longitudinal ligament]

To explore the clinical efficacy of unilateral open-door laminoplasty combined with foraminotomy for cervical ossification of posterior longitudinal ligament(OPLL).The clinical data of 45 patients with OPLL underwent surgical treatment between September 2011 and September 2015 were retrospectively analyzed. There were 26 males and 19 females with a mean age of 53.6 years old(ranged from 28 to 71 years). Among them, 24 cases received the surgery of unilateral open-door cervical laminoplasty combined with foraminotomy(combined group), and 21 cases received a single unilateral open-door cervical laminoplasty(single group). Operation time, intraoperative blood loss, complications including C₅ nerve root palsy and axial symptoms were compared between two groups. Pre-and post-operative Japanese Orthopedic Association(JOA) score, improvement rate of neurological function, Neck Disability Index(NDI) score, and cervical Cobb angle were recorded and analyzed between the two groups.All the patients were followed up for 12-24 months, with an average of (14.3±2.8) months for combined groups and (13.7±3.1) months for single group, and no significant difference was found between the two groups(Unilateral open-door cervical laminoplasty combined with foraminotomy is an effective method to treat cervical OPLL, which could provide sufficient decompression of spinal cord and nerve root, prevent the C₅ nerve root palsy.