[A prospective study of ENT complication following surgery of the cervical spine by the anterior approach (preliminary results)].

In order to evaluate complications due to cervical spine surgery using the anterior cervical approach a prospective study was conducted on 125 patients. ENT examination with the fibroscope was employed for all the patients before the procedure. The patients were operated on under general anesthesia and were intubated with an armoured tube, and then were placed in an intensive care unit for 24 hours. Assessment of deglutition and an ENT examination were performed the day after surgery. Before surgery, two cases of vocal cord paralysis were noted. 111 patients (88.8%) presented with subjective disorders: problems such as sore throat, odynophagia, dysphagia, dysphagia with overspill and hoarseness were respectively noted in 55 (44%), 34 (27.2%), 32 (25.6%), 11 (8.8%) and 13 (10.4%) cases. Dyspnoea was found in 2 cases (1.6%). 117 patients (93.6%) presented postoperative anomalies which were found on the posterolateral pharyngeal wall, on the arytenoids and on posterior third of the vocal cords. Inflammatory and/or swollen lesions were slight, moderate, significant or very significant in respectively 22.4%, 22.4%, 15.2% and 1.6% of cases. Very significant circumferential swelling of the pharyngeal wall and of the arytenoids was responsible for two cases of respiratory distress, and the patients required reintubation and return to theatre. Severe pharyngeal lesion correlated with duration of surgery (r = 0.20; p < 0.05), with the number levels of fusion (r = 0.02; p < 0.02) and with the age of the patient (p < 0.02). Six patients presented problems of mobility of the vocal cords: 3 had a right vocal cord paresis which was temporary and 3 had paralysis, also on the right but which persisted. There were no other complications. It is concluded that (i) ENT complications are frequently found in postoperative cervical spine surgery using the anterior cervical approach, some of them being severe. An ENT examination must be performed before the procedure for legal reasons. It is also recommended in the postoperative period in the case of discomfort; (ii) patients need to be placed in an intensive care unit during for the first 24 hours (iii). This study needs to be attended over more patients (iv) comparison with a control group of patients having non cervical surgery and intubated in the same way is needed to differentiate lesions related to surgery or intubation.