Comparison between muscle-preserving selective laminectomy and laminoplasty for multilevel cervical spondylotic myelopathy

The recently reported study conducted by Yu et al. compared the clinical and radiologic outcomes of skip laminectomy, one of the surgical techniques included in muscle-preserving selective laminectomy (SL) and expansive open-door laminoplasty (ELAP) performed for the treatment of multilevel cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) (1). This prospective study demonstrated the advantages of skip laminectomy in reducing intraoperative blood loss, hospital stay, postoperative visual analogue scale (VAS) score, and axial symptoms, along with preserving the postoperative cervical range of motion (ROM). The authors concluded that skip laminectomy is an effective, safe, and minimally invasive method as it preserves the posterior cervical structure. We believe that this study informs surgeons about an alternative to laminoplasty for the treatment for CSM.