Abstract
The anterior approach to the subaxial spine represents the standard approach to anterior pathologies in this region. Spreading soft tissues apart along preformed fascial compartments medial to the sternocleidomastoid muscle allows an atraumatic exposure of the ventral aspect of the spine from C2 to Th1. This approach is well tolerated and associated with low complication rates. The commonest complaints with delayed recovery are injuries to the recurrent laryngeal nerve and swallowing dysfunctions. Modifications of this approach allow direct anterior access to the neuroforamen or exposure of the vertebral artery for pathologies with extraspinal extension along nerve roots.
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Klekamp, J. (2019). Anterior Subaxial Approach. In: Koller, H., Robinson, Y. (eds) Cervical Spine Surgery: Standard and Advanced Techniques. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93432-7_16
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93432-7_16
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
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