Anterior approaches to fusion of the cervical spine: a metaanalysis of fusion rates

Abstract

Object Anterior cervical discectomy (ACD), ACD with interbody fusion (ACDF), ACDF with placement of an anterior plate system (ACDFP), corpectomy, and corpectomy with plate placement are used to fuse the cervical spine. The authors conducted a metaanalysis of studies published after 1990 in which fusion rates achieved with each procedure were reported for patients with degenerative disease at one, two, and three disc levels. Methods Twenty-one papers each included data on at least 25 patients. In each of the 21 studies the average clinical follow up was more than 12 months, and the results were evaluated according to radiographic evidence of fusion and delineated by the number of levels fused. Chi-square and Fisher exact tests were used for comparisons. The mean age of the patients was 46.7 years, 46.6% were female, and the mean follow-up period was 39.6 months. The studies included 2682 patients and the overall fusion rate was 89.5%. For single disc–level disease, fusion rates were 84.9% for ACD, 92.1% for ACDF, and 97.1% for ACDFP (p = 0.0002). For two disc–level disease, fusion rates were 79.9% for ACDF, 94.6% for ACDFP, 95.9% for corpectomy, and 92.9% for corpectomy with plate placement (p = 0.0001). For three disc–level disease, fusion rates were 65.0% for ACDF, 82.5% for ACDFP, 89.8% for corpectomy, and 96.2% for corpectomy with plate placement (p = 0.0001). The use of anterior plates significantly improved fusion for one-level (p < 0.0001), two-level (p < 0.0001), and three-level (p < 0.05) ACDF. There was no significant difference in fusion rates between two-level ACDF and corpectomy with plate placement. Conclusions The anticipated fusion rate is one of several factors that may guide surgical decision making. Anterior cervical decompression and fusion results in high fusion rates. The results of the authors' study show that regardless of the number of levels fused, the use of an anterior cervical plate system significantly increases the fusion rate. For two-disc–level disease, there was no significant difference between ACD with a plate system or corpectomy with a plate system. For three-disc–level disease, however, the evidence suggests that corpectomy with plate placement is associated with higher fusion rates than discectomy with plate placement.