Anyone had an Anterior Cervical Corpectomy and Discectomy with Fusion?

Posted by Hank @jesfactsmon, Feb 17, 2020

My friend is going to be undergoing an Anterior Cervical Corpectomy and Discectomy with Fusion. She is very nervous about this and has been holding off for while as she has sought opinions from several doctors. Here is a recent message she sent me a few days ago when she first told me about it:
"I supposed to have this last year but kept pending it because I was scared oh well I am still sacred:)
Anyway, I did not get better with conservative/traditional treatment. I was diagnosed with Severe Cervical Spinal stenosis on 2018.
I went to 4 different specialist and surgeons (nerve and orthopedic surgeons) from different hospital and all urge me to have the surgery sooner than later to avoid serious conditions later (becoming a paraplegic) so here we are." Just wanted to start a discussion to see if anyone else has had this so I can tell her to join Mayo Connect and maybe get some answers. Specifically what was it like to have the surgery, how long to recover, kinds of complications, anything info that might be useful to someone facing this surgery. Thanks, Hank

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Phil, Volunteer Mentor | @upstatephil | Mar 5 6:51am

I had C4-7 ACDF a bit over 12 months ago. I feel 98% great and I'm happy I had the work done. But of course, my experience may not be your experience or anyone else's for that matter.

Pain drugs can sort of work but I recommend a special PT person. I've used two since surgery and their approaches were entirely different (much to my surprise). The more traditional PT approach quickly got me to about 75% of the way back - then I plateaued. After discussing with others who've had a similar surgery - I went to a "specialty" PT person. She is not a chiropractor (I would shy away from any significant spine manipulations post ACDF) nor is she a typical PT person. She understands the body and its muscles/joints extremely well (she's taught some physio classes at Mayo JAX) and her approach was very specifically directed at core strengthening (I use UrbanPoles).

Point is - different PT people have different strategies. If yours isn't helping, look around for something new/different.

collierga | @collierga | Mar 5 7:12am

Yes I had that surgery 10/2022
I was very scared but it all went well. Minor sore throat post op. Was on a soft diet for about a week .
Do your research and get a good surgeon
My surgeon was Dr Yazbak in Neenah Wi