Radiological and clinical follow-up studies of ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament in the cervical spine treated conservatively more than five years

Thirty-one patients of ossificaiton of the posterior longitudinal ligament in the cervical spine who had been treated conservatively more than five years are followed up clinically and radiologically. The classification of the ossification type is as follows, segmental in thirteen, mixed in eight, continuous in eight and other in two. At the time of the examination, the progression of the ossification in the longitudinal direction was seen in eithteen of them (58%) and the thichening of the ossification was seen radiologically to happen in seven of them (23%). Myelopathy remained static in the most of the patients. Clinical symptoms were mostly neck pain and numbness in the upper extremity. Some of the patients were associated with lumbar canals stenosis and ossification of the yellow ligament in the lumbo thoracic spine.