Technical Arrangement of the Williams-Isu Method for Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion

Anterior cervical fixation with autologous bone transplantation―without the need for harvesting bone from other sites, such as the ilium―was developed by Williams and modified by Isu et al. In recent intervertebral fusion procedures, after harvesting the cuboid bone from vertebral bodies, a hydroxyapatite block is placed between two harvested vertebral bones in the same way as in the sandwich method for intervertebral fixation. According to previous studies, this procedure has the following disadvantages: (i) as the corrective force for cervical kyphosis is insufficient, it could not be adapted for patients with preoperative kyphosis; (ii) special devices, including a microsurgical saw, are required for harvesting vertebral bones. In our modified method, we used a conventional high-speed drill instead of a microsurgical saw. Nevertheless, the results show that the operated spine can be stabilized to a greater extent by decreasing the height of the grafted bone, and this might help in reducing postoperative kyphosis. (J Nippon Med Sch 2015; 82: 50―53)