Abstract
The anterior standard approach is the most frequently used surgical approach to the cervical spine. It is suitable for discectomy as well as for corpectomy with anterior plating. The posterior approach allows laminectomy and fusion as well as open-door laminoplasty. When performing the anterior approach, it is possible to use anatomical landmarks (hyoid bone, thyroid cartilage, tuberculum caroticum) already when starting with the skin incision. During the posterior approach, it is only possible to identify the midline with the help of the spinous processes. The spinous processes of C2 and C7 are usually longer than the spinous processes of C3 to C6; thus, they can be used as anatomical landmarks.
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König, A., Spetzger, U. (2017). Surgical Technique. In: Degenerative Diseases of the Cervical Spine. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47298-0_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47298-0_8
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