My Spine - Cervical
2. Pain that does not respond to any other treatment modality and is suffi-
ciently severe to limit your daily activities and quality of life. This includes
local neck pain, referred pain and radicular pain.
3. Muscle weakness due to nerve compression (radicular weakness).
4. Spasticity.
The most frequently performed operation is called an anterior cervical discec-
tomy. Other operations that are performed include laminectomy and
foraminotomy.
Does this treatment have any complications?
There are no real complications regarding conservative management of a cer-
vical slipped disc beyond the fact that the clinical effects may increase, lead-
ing to surgery. The surgical management carries rare, but potentially serious
complications. The chapter Your eck Operation contains more specific
detail and you should discuss this with your specialist. Some of the most
feared risks would include nerve damage, which may be damage to the nerves
leaving the spinal canal or damage to the spinal cord itself. The potential
effects of this could be partial or complete dysfunction of these nerves and
can include numbness, pain, weakness of the muscles or complete paralysis
of one or more muscle groups. Infection and the formation of blood clots are
also possible complications. Speech impediments can be caused by traction
or damage to certain nerves.
What are the long-term expectations?
In cases where the symptoms settle with conservative measures, the symp-
toms may reappear at some stage. This can, however, take several years, but
relief may be short lived. In cases where a discectomy and fusion are per-
formed, the symptoms are usually relieved immediately in almost all patients
and improvement is usually permanent.
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