Comparison of long terms follow up results in patients with cervical disk disease treated with anterior PEEK cage implantation and without it in Rasoul Akram Hospital

BACKGROUND: Anterior interbody fusion of the cervical spine have become the gold standard for treating spinal diseases, hence the aim of this study was to compare long term follow up results in patients with cervical disk disease treated with anterior PEEK cage implantation and without it in anterior approach. METHODS: Retrospectively 63 patients with known cervical discogenic disorders who went under surgery with and without cage implantation were enrolled. The neurological examination and neurologic function were assessed by using the Japanese Orthopedic Association (JOA) scoring system and neurological cervical spine scale (NCSS) before and 8 years after surgery in each patient and at the end all complications were recorded. RESULTS: In the first group, there were 15 males and 14 females (mean age: 49±10 years) and in the second group there were 27 male and 7 female (mean age: 47±9 years). The NCSS score was significantly different between two groups after surgery (p = 0.035) but there was no significant difference before surgery (p = 0.163). No statistical significance difference was also observed in JOA score and complications before and after procedure, but JOA post surgery score between two groups had significant difference (p = 0.047). CONCLUSION: In conclusion, present study showed that PEEK cage implantation is a highly useful alternative to the conventional treatment methods.