Six level cervico-thoracic circumferential reconstruction: Report of the second case of the literature

Abstract

Anterior cervical corpectomy from C2 to T1 is being used to decompress the spinal cord and reconstruct the cervical spine. It is a well recognized treatment for degenerative, traumatic, tumoral, infectious cervical stenosis and/or instability. It has the advantage of allowing a thorough decompression and also improves fusion rates in cases in which multilevel decompression is needed. In order to overcome the potential drawbacks of structural bone graft it is possible to use titanium plates and mesh cages with good results. The inconstant stability rate of the construct, with or without anterior plate, can justify supplementary posterior instrumentation in order to obtain circumferential reconstruction. The author reports the successful outcome of a six-level-corpectomy across the spine with circumferential reconstruction in a patient with extensive chordoma of the cervical and upper thoracic spine. To the author's knowledge this is the second report of a corpectomy extending across six levels of the cervico-thoracic spine. © 2011 Springer-Verlag/Wien.