Mini Open Foraminotomy for Cervical Radiculopathy: A Comparison of Large Tubular and TrimLine Retractors

STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective chart review. PURPOSE: A comparison of mini open foraminotomy (MOF) for cervical radiculopathy using either large tubular (LT) or TrimLine (TL) retractors. OVERVIEW OF LITERATURE: Posterior foraminotomy relieves compression of the cervical nerve root in radiculopathy patients. However, invasion of the paravertebral muscle may cause major problems in these patients. To address these problems, we performed MOF. METHODS: Twenty cervical radiculopathy patients (16 male and 4 female) who underwent MOF between May 2004 and August 2011 were assigned to LT and TL groups. Each group contained 10 subjects. Surgical and clinical outcomes were compared. RESULTS: The average operating time in the TL group was significantly shorter than that in the LT group. The final follow-up mean neck disability indices significantly improved compared to the preoperative values (LT group, 12.0±7.8 vs. 28.0±9.4; TL group, 6.0±5.9 vs. 21.9±10). The final follow-up neck pain visual analog scale (VAS) scores also decreased significantly from the preoperative of 8.0±1.5 and 2.5±2.5 to the final follow-up values of 2.2±2.2 and 1.0±2.5 in the LT and TL groups, respectively. The recovery rate for the neck pain VAS score was 70.0±31.9 in the LT group and 87.0±32.0 in the TL group, thus suggesting no significant difference between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: MOF with the TL retractor is an easy and safe procedure. Furthermore, the use of the TL retractor allows for a minimally invasive and effective surgical treatment of cervical radiculopathy patients.