The effectiveness of anterior cervical decompression and fusion for the relief of dizziness in patients with cervical spondylosis: a multicentre prospective cohort study.
AIMS
Cervical spondylosis is often accompanied by dizziness. It has recently been shown that the ingrowth of Ruffini corpuscles into diseased cervical discs may be related to cervicogenic dizziness. In order to evaluate whether cervicogenic dizziness stems from the diseased cervical disc, we performed a prospective cohort study to assess the effectiveness of anterior cervical discectomy and fusion on the relief of dizziness.


PATIENTS AND METHODS
Of 145 patients with cervical spondylosis and dizziness, 116 underwent anterior cervical decompression and fusion and 29 underwent conservative treatment. All were followed up for one year. The primary outcomes were measures of the intensity and frequency of dizziness. Secondary outcomes were changes in the modified Japanese Orthopaedic Association (mJOA) score and a visual analogue scale score for neck pain.


RESULTS
There were significantly lower scores for the intensity and frequency of dizziness in the surgical group compared with the conservative group at different time points during the one-year follow-up period (p = 0.001). There was a significant improvement in mJOA scores in the surgical group.


CONCLUSION
This study indicates that anterior cervical surgery can relieve dizziness in patients with cervical spondylosis and that dizziness is an accompanying manifestation of cervical spondylosis. Cite this article: Bone Joint J 2018;100-B:81-7.
['Peng|B|B|', 'Yang|L|L|', 'Yang|C|C|', 'Pang|X|X|', 'Chen|X|X|', 'Wu|Y|Y|']
D000328:Adult D000368:Aged D002574:Cervical Vertebrae D019299:Decompression, Surgical D017586:Diskectomy D004244:Dizziness D005260:Female D005500:Follow-Up Studies D006801:Humans D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D019547:Neck Pain D011446:Prospective Studies D012720:Severity of Illness Index D013123:Spinal Fusion D055009:Spondylosis D016896:Treatment Outcome
Anterior cervical decompression and fusion Cervical spondylosis Ruffini corpuscles Cervicogenic dizziness Intervertebral disc degeneration Proprioception