Outcomes after anterior cervical discectomy and fusion for presumed segmental dysfunction-related neck pain: a Swedish nationwide registry study

Purpose

Surgical management of mechanically driven neck pain without radiculopathy or myelopathy is a controversial topic, where comparative evidence to non-operative care is limited. This registry-based descriptive cohort study, without a nonoperative comparator, aimed to evaluate longitudinal outcomes after anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) for mechanically driven pain presumed to derive from a dysfunctional cervical segment.