In the present study, the pathologies compressing the cord were anterior to the cord and located posterior to the vertebral bodies, so simple anterior discectomy could not resolve the problem and corpectomy was mandatory to decompress the anterior aspect of the cord. No neurological injury or added complications were observed to be related to sub-total removal of the vertebral bodies except acceptable increase in blood loss, and this is matching with the results reported [12].
Bone grafting is mandatory to reconstruct the anterior column to minimize the stress on the plates and screws and should be inserted under distraction to maintain the vertebral height, widen the foramina, and apply compressive force on the graft which enhances bony fusion. Excessive distraction was avoided for fear of neural injury [13]. Two types of grafts were used, allografts from iliac crest and synthetic grafts in the form of cages or meshes. No differences between the two types of grafts were observed except the donor site pain in allografts.
Some authors preferred to do posterior stabilization in addition to the anterior one especially in multi-level corpectomy; however, in this study, this approach was not applied even in multi-level diseases and the follow-up of the patients proved that the anterior approach alone is sufficient to achieve a sound fusion and maintained cervical lordosis [14] (Figs. 5, 6, 7, and 8).
Few authors preferred not to do plating in the presence of infected collection to avoid flourishing of infection, but in this study, the infection started to subside gradually after the operation as drainage of the collection done by corpectomy diminished the bacterial inoculum and quickened the healing [15].
Degeneration of the upper or lower levels adjacent to the fused segment was reported by some authors. This was not the case during the follow-up period of the current study [16, 17].
Kato et al. concluded that cervical corpectomy is the treatment of choice in treating acquired cervical canal stenosis whether focal or diffuse. The corpectomy is followed by grafting to reconstruct the anterior column and plating to support the spine and act as a tension band to facilitate the bony fusion. Moreover, corpectomy and grafting have the potential to allow reduction of kyphotic deformities that exacerbate cervical myelopathy as they restore the cervical physiological curvature [18].