The effects of cages implantation on surgical and adjacent segmental intervertebral foramina

Objection: The overarching goal of our research was to compare the clinical and radiological outcomes with different sizes of cages implantation in anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF), and to evaluate the effects on surgical and adjacent segmental intervertebral foramina. Methods: The clinical data of 61 patients were analyzed retrospectively. The radiological data included the surgical intervertebral disk space height before (H-0) and after surgery (H), the preoperative mean height of adjacent segments (H-m), the area and height of the surgical and adjacent segment foramen, the surgical segmental Cobb angle (alpha(1)), and C2-7Cobb angle (alpha(2)). The calculation of clinical data was conducted by Japanese Orthopaedic Association Scores (JOA), the recovery rate of JOA scores and visual analog scales (VAS). In accordance with the different ranges of distraction (H/H-m), patients were classified into three groups: group A (H/H-m