Study design: This study was conducted to evaluate an anterior cervical fusion plate system, the Orion locking plate, regarding its surgical handling, hardware-related failures, and short-term and long-term results.
Objectives: A comprehensive evaluation of the implant in a broad range of patients with cervical spine diseases.
Summary of background data: Locking plates are the most recent devices for achieving anterior cervical spinal fusion and offer considerable advantages such as faster and easier implantation and fewer implant-related failures than older plate systems.
Methods: Ninety-six patients were investigated. All underwent anterior cervical plate fusion as a component of the surgical treatment for symptomatic degenerative cervical spinal disease or for vertebral destruction caused by trauma, tumor, or inflammation. Besides plate fixation, 6 of the 96 patients had a combined ventrodorsal fusion. In 28 cases, one or more vertebral bodies were removed and replaced with titanium place-holders. The remaining 62 patients were first treated by intervertebral inlay placement, and the fused segments were subsequently plated. Neurologic signs and symptoms were evaluated before and after surgery and during a follow-up period of at least 1 year.
Results: The rate of neurologic improvement was highest in radiculopathy patients and lowest in patients with severe myelopathy. In all cases, control radiographs demonstrated a solid bony fusion. Clinical deterioration after surgery was seen in four cases of severe myelopathy in which considerable neurologic deficits existed before surgery, possible because of rapid decompression of the cord and associated microvascular alterations. In two of these cases, there was long-term improvement. Additional general complications caused by surgical retraction included temporary swallowing disturbance in seven patients and a large wound hematoma in one. Hardware failures were encountered in three cases, all of them caused by improper implantation technique and not material failure, per se.
Conclusion: In the study group, the Orion locking plate was easy to use, failure-free if properly implanted, safe for the patient and supported solid bony fusion in every case.