1984 年 32 巻 1 号 p. 135-139
Postoperative long-term follow-up studies were conducted on patients with cervical myelopathy. In this report the authors described the clinical and radiographic observations on 91 cases who were followed for more than 5 years. Results at the time of final follow-up were excellent in 57%, good in 28%, fair in 9%, unchanged in 3%, and worsened in 3%, indicating that satisfactory results were maintained for long period in most cases. Long-term results were influenced by the factors of the age, duration of the history, results at the time of discharge, spinal canal stenosis and operative methods.
Results were deteriorated in 19% of the cases and the deterioration tended to occur nearly 3 to 7 years after surgery. Radiographic examination indicated that nonunion at the level of fusion and spondylotic change at the adjacent levels of fusion appeared in some cases. However, these findings varely influenced the clinical results, except in cases with severe spinal canal stenosis.