The association of cervical sagittal alignment with anterior bone loss following single-level anterior cervical surgery.

Background: Anterior bone loss (ABL) is a common phenomenon after cervical disc replacement (CDR), which can also be observed after anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF). This study aimed to investigate the incidence and severity of ABL in single-level CDR and ACDF and explore the association of cervical sagittal alignment with ABL.

Methods: This is a single-center retrospective cohort study. A total of 113 patients treated with CDR and 99 patients treated with ACDF were retrospectively reviewed from January 2014 to December 2018 in West China Hospital. Radiological data were collected at pre-operation, 1 week, 3 months postoperatively, and the last follow-up. The incidence and severity of ABL after both CDR and ACDF were evaluated. Cervical sagittal alignment parameters, including C0-C2 angle, cervical lordosis (CL), C2-C7 sagittal vertical axis (cSVA), T1 slope, functional spinal unit angle, disc angle, and surgical level slope, were evaluated.

Results: ABL was identified in 75 (66.4%) patients in the CDR group and 57 (57.6%) patients in the ACDF group. There were no significant differences in the incidence, severity, and location of ABL between the ACDF and CDR groups. For patients who underwent ACDF, the proportion of females was significantly higher in the ABL group (64.9% 33.3%, P=0.002), whereas the body mass index (BMI) was significantly lower in the ABL group compared to the non-ABL group (22.72±3.09 24.60±3.04, P=0.002). No effect of ABL on the short-term clinical outcomes of ACDF and CDR was observed. In the ACDF group, patients with ABL had significantly smaller postoperative CL (11.83°±8.24° 15.25°±8.32°, P=0.04) and cSVA (17.77±10.08 23.35±9.86 mm, P=0.007). In the CDR group, no significant differences were found in the cervical sagittal parameters between patients with and without ABL (CL: 12.58±8.70 15.46±8.50, P=0.10; cSVA: 20.95±8.54 19.40±9.43, P=0.38).

Conclusions: ABL is common after both CDR and ACDF with comparable incidence and severity. Cervical sagittal alignment was closely related to ABL after ACDF yet had less influence on ABL after CDR.