Level Diagnosis of Cervical OPLL by Evoked Spinal Cord Potentials

Abstract

Level diagnosis of cervical ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL) is difficult because cervical OPLL usually lnvolves multilevel lesions. The purpose of this study is to determine the injury level of the cervical OPLL by electrophysiological methods. We recorded evoked spinal cord potentials (ESOPs) including spinal cord, transcutaneous and transcranial stimulation from 17 OPLL patients at pre-or intra-operation. The injury level was 94.1% for single -and double-level lesions and 87% for motion segments. These results suggest that most cervical OPLLS can be treated by level one or two levels anterior fusion.