If you’ve been experiencing a lot of neck pain, numbness and tingling in your arms, or trouble gripping things tightly, it’s possible you’re experiencing spinal cord compression in your neck — a serious condition that can be addressed by a surgical procedure that sees many patients walking out of the hospital after just a night or two there.
Spinal cord compression, known medically as cervical myeloradiculopathy, occurs in the neck and can be caused by the narrowing of the spinal canal, herniated discs or bone spurs in the neck.
The condition can happen because of an acute injury or simply from the chronic degeneration of the spine. Patients typically experience symptoms like neck pain, numbness and tingling in the extremities, and a weaker grip.
While any issue with your spinal cord sounds scary, amazingly, this condition can often be treated conservatively via nonsurgical methods.
“Typically, 80% of the population gets better with conservative management,” said M. Kamran Khan, DO, a neurosurgeon with Endeavor Health. “We usually start patients with therapy, medications or epidural injections.”
However, conservative management does not always improve symptoms. Dr. Khan said it’s important for patients to advocate for themselves when a treatment plan is not working, and their symptoms are worsening.
“If the patient’s symptoms are progressing, we will review the patient’s imaging and, if appropriate, begin discussing a surgical approach,” he explained.
One of the best surgical options to address spinal cord compression is called an anterior cervical discectomy infusion. This procedure is a relatively quick surgery lasting around two to three hours. It also often involves a quick recovery; patients typically only spend one to two nights in the hospital before heading home to heal.
During an anterior cervical discectomy infusion, the surgeon will enter through the front of the neck, rather than the back.
“We remove the disk all the way down to the nerves and place a spacer in that disk space to restore the height, correct the curvature of the spine and open up the tunnel to the nerve to improve the numbness and tingling,” explained Dr. Khan. “We then place a plate across the front of the spine to maintain the spine curvature and keep those spacers in place, allowing the spine to properly heal.”
After the procedure, many patients notice that their neck pain and numbness/tingling improve quickly — sometimes even right away. Other symptoms like weakness typically improve within a short time after surgery.
Patients typically begin physical therapy four weeks after surgery in order to regain their range of motion and to learn how to move their body in a way that helps protect the spine as it heals.
Dr. Khan initially sees patients four weeks after the procedure. In his experience, many patients experience a complete resolution of their symptoms by the 4-week mark and are often able to resume many normal life activities.
“It’s important to remember that every patient is different,” said Dr. Khan. “Not everyone responds to the surgery the same way because no two situations are the same.”
According to Dr. Khan, an anterior cervical discectomy infusion can dramatically improve the life of a patient experiencing spinal cord compression. As a surgeon, he described the experience of helping a person dramatically improve their wellbeing as extremely rewarding.
“You experience a huge dopamine surge when you see someone with severe symptoms that limit their ability to go about their normal day-to-day life, then watch them regain their quality of life,” he said. “Seeing the smile on their face is the best part.”
