Comparative study of anterior cervical spine decompression and fixation between standalone cages and augmented screw cages

Cervical radiculopathy is a common condition, causing neck pain due to compression of nerve roots. Due to an increase in degenerative pathology, incidence rates are set to increase. The surgery of choice is anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF). It involves removing the degenerative disc to relieve pressure on nerves. The two most common cages used in this surgery are the augmented screw cage, and the standalone cage. The aim was to show if one cage is more effective than the other at retaining a Cobb angle of the cervical vertebrae within a normal lordotic range. One hundred and thirty-two patients were included in this study. These patients had ACDF surgery performed in Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast between years 2015 and2017. MRI and X-rays were used pre-operatively and post-operatively to record the Cobb angle in order to examine the restoration of lordosis in the neck. The most important factor was the overall positive effect it had on the angle of the cervical spine. Both the segmental angle and intervertebral disc height were measured pre-operatively and post-operatively. This study confirmed that the stand-alone cage improved the segmental angle and produced a significantly (p< .05)improved increase in the lordotic angle than the augmented screw cage.