New Classification for Clinically Symptomatic Adjacent Segment Pathology in Cervical Disc Disease

STUDY DESIGN: Clinical adjacent segment pathology (CASP) is common after cervical disc surgery. A critical examination of 320 patients operated for cervical disc prolapse revealed that CASP can also occur in patients with congenital and degenerative fusion of cervical spine. This has not been studied in depth and there is a need for a practically applicable classification of CASP. PURPOSE: To develop a new classification scheme of CASP. OVERVIEW OF LITERATURE: A review of the literature did not reveal a practically applicable classification incorporating the occurrence of CASP in congenital and degenerative fusion cases. METHODS: This was a retrospective analysis of 320 patients operated (509 disc spaces) on for cervical disc prolapse. Cases (n=316) were followed-up for 3-11 years. Random sampling of 220 patients with postoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in 165 cases was analyzed. RESULTS: Six symptomatic CASP cases required resurgery (1.9%), eight cases involved MRI proven CASP with axial neck pain only and 13 patients were asymptomatic with radiological adjacent segment pathology (RASP). The frequency rate was 8.5% (27/316). Four cases of congenital or degenerative fusion of vertebra developed CASP requiring surgery. CASP is classified as primary or secondary follows. Primary A1 was congenital fusion of vertebra and primary A2 was degenerative fusion of the vertebra. Secondary, which was after cervical disc surgery, comprised B1 (RASP in asymptomatic patients), B2 (CASP in patients with axial neck pain), and B3 (CASP with myeloradiculopathy). B3 was subdivided into single-level CASP (B3a) and multiple-level CASP (B3b). CONCLUSIONS: Symptomatic CASP requiring resurgery is infrequent. CASP can occur in patients with congenital and degenerative fusion of the cervical spine. A new classification for CASP along with treatment strategy is proposed. Patients in Primary CASP and B3 CASP require resurgery while others require only observation.