Radiographic changes following anterior cervical fusion.

In nine patients who underwent anterior cervical fusions for cervical spondylosis, preoperative cervical spine films were compared with radiographs taken seven to 15 years after fusion. Eight of the nine patients were found to have radiographic evidence of increased degenerative diseases located primarily below the level of fusion but occasionally occurring both above and below the fusion. Whether these degenerative changes are the body's response to altered mechanical forces on joints next to a now immobile spinal segment or whether these changes merely represent the natural progression of the degenerative disease process could not be ascertained from this study. Perhaps both factors contributed.