Cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) is characterized by spondylosis leading to compression of the spinal cord.
When conservative therapy fails, surgical management involving anterior cervical discectomy, with or without fusion, is the most common approach.
While treatment is normally effective, results can vary.
Ebersold et al. reported long term functional decline or no improvement in 45% of patients undergoing anterior cervical discectomy with fusion (ACDF) for CSM and Chang et al. found a lack of improvement in 14.5% of patients undergoing laminectomy and fusion for CSM.