Cervical Myelopathy Case Study

48 year old cook presents with dropping her kitchen tools and feeling clumsy. MRI shows severe spinal cord compression. The spinal cord is bruised as well (arrow). The left image is a side view. The middle view is a cross section of a normal spine. The right shows the spinal cord (arrow) being compressed.

Because of her age and wanting flexibility, we did a laminoplasty. We created more room for her spine and did not do a fusion. It is motion preserving. Left image is a side view MRI showing more space for the spinal cord. The middle picture is a cross section of the same level that showed cord compression now wide open.

What a laminoplasty does is reshape the bone and make the space for the spinal cord large and places a titanium door stop to prevent the space from reclosing. Left image is a normal cross section of the spine. The right image shows the space reshaped. The area for the spinal cord is much larger (arrows).