Development and prospects of cervical laminoplasty

Cervical laminoplasty surgery is an alternative to laminectomy. It can increase the space of the \nspinal cord available by raising the lamina, and achieve the indirect decompression effect to \ntreat cervical spondylosis. Various techniques of laminoplasty have since been developed after \ntwo prototype techniques: Hirabayashi’s open-door laminoplasty and Kurokawa’s double-door \nlaminoplasty. Several studies report superior biomechanical stability of the cervical spine after \nlaminoplasty compared with laminectomy. Recent development in laminoplasty is preservation \nof muscle attachment, which enabled dynamic and static stabilization of the cervical spine \nby neck extensor muscles. After treatment with new laminoplasty techniques with active \npostoperative neck muscle exercises, postoperative instability, kyphosis, axial neck pain, and \nloss of ROM become minimal. The development，complications and future trends of cervical \nlaminoplasty are summarized below.