Anterior cervical plates: a historical perspective.

The development of anterior cervical plates (ACPs) represents a rapidly changing aspect of spine surgery. This paper focuses on a historical overview of ACPs. The authors discuss the disadvantages of earlier generations of plates and demonstrate how current plates have been designed to overcome the presumed shortcomings of their predecessors. This historical review begins with the earliest plates--unrestricted backout plates--and moves on to newer plates--restricted backout plates and their different subcategories. Virtually all modern ACPs work equally well in cervical stabilization; however, there are differences in design that warrant future studies to understand the long-term performances of different plates.