Abstract
Anterior fusion is widely perfomed for cervical spondylotic radiculopathy, and good results are reported for posterior foraminotomy. We treated seven cases suffering from cervical spondylotic radiculopathy with this method from May 2000 to July 2003. They consisted of five men and two women with a mean age of 58 (44 to 48) years. The average period to the operation was 13 (3 to 48) months, and the follow-up period was 20 (3 to 41) months. Numbness decreased in five cases, pain decreased in four cases, and muscular power recovered in five cases. Though we were concerned about the developing instability of the cervical spine after foraminotomy because of partial facetectomy, but this did not occur. Posterior foraminotomy is a good operative method for cervical spondylotic radiculopathy.
