[Pain reduction after cervical spine surgery. Outcome after implantation of a cervical wing cage in degenerative diseases of the cervical spine--a prospective study].

AIM: Surgery in cervical spine disease using titanium cages is a common procedure to reduce the pain and neurological deficits. This study was aimed to evaluate the results in pain reduction using the wing cage intraoperatively.

METHOD: In this prospective study demographic data were noted, whereas special emphasis was placed on pain, which was noted using a visual pain scale and the prolo score, neurological deficits and the causing pathology. Furthermore, questions about the use of analgesics and the duration of pain were asked. After operation with insertion of a wing cage instead of the disk, a neurological investigation 6, 12 and 24 months later was done to evaluate the postoperative status.

RESULTS: 54 patients underwent a cervical discectomy in 64 segments as therapy for neck pain or a radiculopathy caused by osteochondrosis or disc disorder. Patients with brachialgia profited most from the operation. Less improvement was seen in cases of osteochondrosis or combined pathology.

CONCLUSION: Patients with pain caused by discs in the cervical spine, have better improvement than patients with other pathologies. This should be taken into account when choosing the mode of therapy.