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✓ Twenty-six patients had anterior cervical discectomy without interbody bone graft for lateral cervical disc syndrome. Twenty-four (92%) had a good clinical result. Radiological follow-up was obtained in 20 cases. The incidence of fusion was 72% for discectomy at a single level. Patients undergoing discectomy at two adjacent levels were too few to permit a statement regarding the incidence of fusion. In those cases of incomplete fusion, dynamic films demonstrated stability at the operated site. Half of the cases who had posterior osteophytes preoperatively showed some degree of resorption after 12 months. Neither incomplete fusion nor failure of osteophyte resolution was incompatible with a good clinical result.

✓ The authors report their experience using the operating microscope in 52 anterior cervical discectomies without fusion. They found long-term results highly satisfactory, even in difficult cases with multiple-level disease, and complications from bone grafting were obviated. They highly recommend this approach for radicular, nonradicular, or myelopathic symptoms.

In this study of the results of anterior interbody cervical-spine fusion for chronic neck pain due to disc degeneration, approximately 73 per cent of the fifty-five patients evaluated were markedly benefited two to seventy-three months after operation. Those patients with disease localized to one or