Background: This study analyzed the effect of preoperative T1 slope on cervical alignment and range of motion (ROM) after cervical disc arthroplasty (CDA) in patients with cervical degenerative disease.
Material/ Methods: This retrospective study included 32 patients with single-level symptomatic cervical disc disease who under-went CDA with the Mobi-C cervical disc prosthesis and had a mean follow-up of 26.8 +/- 6.4 months. Standing lateral, flexion, and extension X-rays of the cervical spine were obtained preoperatively and postoperatively at 24-month follow-up. Simple linear regression analysis was used to assess the impact of preoperative T1 slope on changes from preoperative values in radiologic parameters.
Results: Compared to preoperative values, at 24-month follow-up, there was a significant increase in mean functional spinal unit (FSU) angle (+7.4 degrees), upper adjacent segment (UAS) angle (+3.1 degrees), and overall cervical alignment (C2-C7 angle) (+6.3 degrees), and a significant decrease in mean lower adjacent segment (LAS) angle (-2.4 degrees). Mean ROM of the FSU (-3.6 degrees), LAS (-3.0 degrees), and overall cervical spine (-11.5 degrees) significantly decreased, and mean ROM of the UAS (+1.6 degrees) significantly increased. There were significant correlations between preoperative T1 slope and mean change from preoperative value in FSU angle, C2-C7 angle, and ROM of the overall cervical spine (C2-C7).
Conclusions: T1 slope is useful for evaluating changes in the FSU angle, C2-C7 angle, and ROM of the overall cervical spine following CDA with the Mobi-C disc. Patients with a large preoperative T1 slope may be good candidates for CDA with the Mobi-C prosthesis due its motion maintenance and the fact that it has little adverse impact on sagittal alignment. It also could be a good option in terms of sagittal alignment improvement or motion maintenance for patients with kyphosis.