Surgical treatment for ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament of the thoracic spine: Outcomes of one-stage posterior decompression with corrective fusion surgery

Abstract

Introduction Myelopathy caused by Ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL) of the thoracic spine cannot be treated suffi ciently by conservative treatment and therefore demands surgical intervention. However, surgical outcomes reported to date have not been satisfactory, and surgical procedures for this disease remain to be established [1-12]. Thoracic OPLL is classifi ed into two types: the fl at type and the surgically challenging, sharply protruding type [1,2]. Recently, we have performed one-stage posterior decompression surgery- expansive laminoplasty combined with correction of kyphosis with instrumentation-regardless of the type of Ossification. The purpose of this study was to assess the surgical outcomes of this posterior decompression with the corrective fusion procedure. © 2006 Springer.