Is there a difference in range of motion, neck pain, and outcomes in patients with ossification of posterior longitudinal ligament versus those with cervical spondylosis, treated with plated laminoplasty?
Authors: Fujimori Takahito , Le Hai , Ziewacz John E. , Chou Dean , Mummaneni Praveen V. 
Published: July 2013

Object

There are little data on the effects of plated, or plate-only, open-door laminoplasty on cervical range of motion (ROM), neck pain, and clinical outcomes. The purpose of this study was to compare ROM after a plated laminoplasty in patients with ossification of posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL) versus those with cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) and to correlate ROM with postoperative neck pain and neurological outcomes.

Methods

The authors retrospectively compared patients with a diagnosis of cervical stenosis due to either OPLL or CSM who had been treated with plated laminoplasty in the period from 2007 to 2012 at the University of California, San Francisco. Clinical outcomes were measured using the modified Japanese Orthopaedic Association (mJOA) scale and neck visual analog scale (VAS). Radiographic outcomes included assessment of changes in the C2–7 Cobb angle at flexion and extension, ROM at C2–7, and ROM of proximal and distal segments adjacent to the plated lamina.

Results

Sixty patients (40 men and 20 women) with an average age of 63.1 ± 10.9 years were included in the study. Forty-one patients had degenerative CSM and 19 patients had OPLL. The mean follow-up period was 20.9 ± 13.1 months.

The mean mJOA score significantly improved in both the CSM and the OPLL groups (12.8 to 14.5, p < 0.01; and 13.2 to 14.2, respectively; p = 0.04). In the CSM group, the mean VAS neck score significantly improved from 4.2 to 2.6 after surgery (p = 0.01), but this improvement did not reach the minimum clinically important difference (MCID). Neither was there significant improvement in the VAS neck score in the OPLL group (3.6 to 3.1, p = 0.17).

In the CSM group, ROM at C2–7 significantly decreased from 32.7° before surgery to 24.4° after surgery (p < 0.01). In the OPLL group, ROM at C2–7 significantly decreased from 34.4° to 20.8° (p < 0.01). In the CSM group, the change in the VAS neck score significantly correlated with the change in the flexion angle (r = − 0.31) and the extension angle (r = − 0.37); however, it did not correlate with the change in ROM at C2–7 (r = − 0.1). In the OPLL group, the change in the VAS neck score did not correlate with the change in the flexion angle (r = 0.03), the extension angle (r = − 0.17), or the ROM at C2–7 (r = − 0.28). The OPLL group had a significantly greater loss of ROM after surgery than did the CSM group (p = 0.04). There was no significant correlation between the change in ROM and the mJOA score in either group.

Conclusions

Plated laminoplasty in patients with either OPLL or CSM decreases cervical ROM, especially in the extension angle. Among patients who have undergone laminoplasty, those with OPLL lose more ROM than do those with CSM. No correlation was observed between neck pain and ROM in either group. Neither group had a change in neck pain that reached the MCID following laminoplasty. Both groups improved in neurological function and outcomes.