[HAC-titanium as an implant for interbody fusion in spinal canal stenosis of the cervical spine. Six-year clinical trial].

A total of 102 patients were operated on in 134 levels because of an isolated spondylotic cervical stenosis in 6 years. A titanium implant coated with hydroxyapatite ceramic (HAC) was inserted. The average age of the patients was 53 years. The final clinical and radiological follow-up was performed after 15 months. The functional outcome was classified as good to excellent (Odoms's score) in 83.8% of the patients. Implant-related complications requiring revision surgery included two dislocated dowels and one vertebral collapse in a bisegmental operation. After 6 weeks beginning of bony growth around the implant was seen in 38% of all inserted titanium cages on roentgenograms. A complete solid bony incorporation was shown in 91.2% of the fused segments after 6 months and in 96% after 12 months or at follow-up, respectively. These results illustrate the efficacy of the easy to handle HAC titanium implant, demonstrating that this technique achieves good clinical outcome with the same complication rate as comparable techniques.