The Recurrence of Symptoms After Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion

Objectives This study aimed to evaluate the recurrence symptoms rate after anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) for one year and seek the common cervical vertebral disk affected in a tertiary center in Saudi Arabia over the past five years. Methods This is a single-center, cross-sectional study conducted on patients followed in our center from January 2016 to December 2022. All patients who were older than 18 and underwent ACDF were included. Results Out of 77 patients, 43 (55.8%) have experienced a recurrence of symptoms after the ACDF operation. The highest rate of recurrent symptoms was neck pain 22 (28.6%), left upper limb numbness 20 (26%), and right upper limb numbness 16 (20.8%). It was found that shoulder pain recurred after one level of ACDF in six patients out of 10 (60%), and only one (10%) patient experienced shoulder pain after two-level ACDF. Conclusion ACDF has a high rate of recurrence of symptoms, and the most common type of ACDF was two levels. Most symptoms were neck pain and upper limb radicular pain. However, there is a lack of studies. We recommend conducting more studies on the secondary management of recurrent symptoms post-ACDF.