Extremely wide and asymmetric decompression concomitant with pre-existing C4-C5 foraminal stenosis may cause postoperative C5 palsy. Our findings should be valuable for surgeons considering anterior cervical decompression and fusion that includes the C4-C5 level. Surgeons should consider restriction of the decompression width to less than 15 mm and avoiding asymmetric decompression to reduce the incidence of C5 palsy.
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Odate et al. (2013) studied this question.
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