The Best Surgical Treatment for Cervical Radiculopathy: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis

A case with an inflamed or damaged nerve root in the cervical spine is defined as cervical radiculopathy.The purpose of the current study is to recognize the most effective surgical procedures in cervical radiculopathy subjects. All related studies were taken using PubMed searching international databases, Scopus, ISI Web of Science (WoS), and Science direct with no limit of until November 20(th), 2021. Finally, based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria, after reviewing all randomized controlled trial studies which had the related data the researchers were looking for, they conducted meta-analysis with the seven remaining studies including eight different treatments. Heterogeneity was evaluated by Cochran's Q and Higgins I(2) using R software for the network. In the results presented in this study, the neck disability index (NDI) changes as a result of taking cervical anterior discectomy without (ACD) and with fusion (ACDF) and ACD arthroplasty were -0.003, -1.659, and -1.656, respectively. According to the final diagram of the network, 11 comparisons were made in pairs. When each treatment group is compared with ACDF, it is shown that there was a significant mean effect among the patients who receive Mobi-C, Kineflx|C, and ADR, with mean differences of − 8.60 [CI 95% (− 12.75, − 4.45)], − 1.10 [CI 95% (− 5.22, 3.02)], and − 1.00 [CI 95% (− 7.18, 5.18)], respectively. The most effective surgical treatments for cervical radiculopathy were Mobi-c, Kineflx|C, and artificial disc replacement compared to ACDF treatment, respectively.