Complications exclusive to long strut grafts used following multilevel cervical corpectomy: Utilization of advanced imaging techniques

Abstract

When surgical decompression of cervical spine is considered, multilevel cervical corpectomy with long strut grafts is the preferred treatment. This procedure is used in a variety of pathologies including degenerative disease, tumors, trauma and infection. Corpectomy with interbody grafting helps in adequate spinal canal and neural decompression compared to multilevel discectomy, which could be difficult as well as inadequate. Fibular/iliac strut grafts are used for reconstruction along with a stabilizing hardware in this procedure. So far, complete imaging spectrum of complications exclusive to strut graft has not been reported in the literature. This pictorial essay presents complications exclusive to the strut graft, utility of advanced imaging in diagnosis and a brief note on the clinical management of complications.

Keywords

• cervical spine
• corpectomy
• computed tomography
• magnetic resonance imaging
• strut grafts