Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Internal fixation of the lateral masses with plate and screw has been widely used to treat cervical instability, cervical spondylolisthesis, cervical reconstruction and other injuries caused by various reasons.
OBJECTIVE: To discuss the therapeutic effect of posterior cervical mass fixation assisted with joint distraction in multilevel cervical myelopathy patients.
METHODS: An online search of China Academic Journals Full-text Database was performed for the related articles with the key words of “cervical vertebrae”, “lateral mass”, “internal fixation” and “bone graft”. A total of 22 articles were retained after excluding meta-analysis and repetitive studies. These articles were analyzed from three following aspects mainly: the clinical anatomy of cervical lateral mass, the fixation technique of lateral mass screw and the efficacy of lateral mass screw fixation.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Lateral cervical mass screw fixation belongs to posterior cervical oligo-segmental fixation. It retains the maximum active degree of cervical vertebrate, adequately decompresses the cervical spinal cord, restores the intervertebral height, maintains the cervical physiological curvature and stabilizes the unstable cervical segments. In addition, it prevents the kyphosis deformity, nerve root palsy and the aggravation of cervical spinal instability. Therefore, lateral cervical mass screw fixation is an effective way to treat multilevel cervical myelopathy accompanied with cervical spinal instability.