What is the new method of treating cervical spondylosis

  Patient Song××, female, 55 years old, was admitted to the orthopedic ward of Xinhua Hospital on June 14, 2013 with “neck and shoulder pain with numbness and weakness of extremities for 3 months, progressively aggravated for 12 hours”, and her symptoms seriously affected her daily life and work. Associate Professor Shao confirmed the diagnosis of spinal cervical spondylosis (C5/6) based on clinical physical examination and imaging X and MRI examinations. As the patient was afraid of the anterior cervical plate used in conventional surgery and was afraid of carrying the plate for life, even after a lot of psychological counseling, the problem could not be solved. Considering the patient’s special condition and the short surgical segment, Associate Professor Shao decided to use the Finnish “Inion OTPSS-1” bioabsorbable plate instead of the conventional anterior cervical titanium plate after consulting the patient and his family. The patient’s diseased cervical disc was removed and thoroughly decompressed, and after the bone graft was fused, the absorbable plate was implanted. The patient recovered well after surgery, and the numbness and weakness improved significantly.  Although the biologic resorbable plate is not as strong as the conventional titanium composite plate, it is therefore sharing to a greater load, thus increasing the fusion rate of the bone and avoiding the disadvantages of endograft loosening, failure and stress masking produced by the metal anterior cervical plate, as well as avoiding a second surgical removal.