TY - JOUR T1 - Cervical laminoplasty with unilateral C4-5 foraminotomy: Technical note and case series JO - Neurocirugía (English edition) T2 - AU - Marcó del Pont,Francisco AU - Giovannini,Sebastián Juan María AU - Ries Centeno,Tomás AU - Caffaratti,Guido AU - Lorefice,Emiliano AU - Cervio,Andres SN - 25298496 M3 - 10.1016/j.neucie.2021.06.001 DO - 10.1016/j.neucie.2021.06.001 UR - https://revistaneurocirugia.com/en-cervical-laminoplasty-with-unilateral-c4-5-articulo-S2529849621000228 AB - ObjectiveThe open-door laminoplasty technique is widely used in the treatment of multilevel cervical myelopathy. Despite the satisfactory functional and radiological results of this technique, postoperative C5 palsy is still a severe and disabling complication with a variable incidence in the literature. The objective of this article is to describe and demonstrate the surgical technique step by step with the addition of unilateral C4-5 foraminotomy and to evaluate the results obtained to date, with special emphasis on C5 palsy. Material and methodsRetrospective study of 20 patients operated on for cervical myelopathy using the “extended” laminoplasty technique, which is described step by step. ResultsBetween January 2013 and April 2019, 20 patients were operated on using the extended laminoplasty technique. Only one patient (5%) presented postoperative C5 palsy. The postoperative recovery rate of the modified JOA (Japanese Orthopaedic Association) score was 54.5%, similar to that observed in other series. ConclusionThe extended cervical laminoplasty technique with unilateral C4-5 foraminotomy was developed and demonstrated for the prevention of C5 palsy. The results were analysed and an incidence of C5 palsy coinciding with the lowest percentage reported in the literature was obtained. A prospective randomised study would be useful to assess the role of preventive unilateral C4-5 foraminotomy. ER -