The purpose of this text is to update the different surgical approaches and
techniques used in surgery of the cervical spine and spinal cord. All of the
senior authors are well-known individuals in their fields.
The text is very well organized into five sections: Surgical Preparation,
Approaches to the Cervical Spine, Decompression, Graft Techniques, and Methods
of Fixation/Stabilization. The section on surgical preparation includes a
thorough description of the various types of traction and positioning of the
patient, intraoperative monitoring of the spinal cord, and anesthetic
considerations, and the section on graft techniques is also outstanding. The
textbook provides an excellent review of all of the current and past
techniques of anterior as well as posterior surgical approaches to the
cervical spine and spinal cord.
Most of the authors address potential complications associated with the
various procedures, an awareness of which is very important in the planning of
the surgical approach. In general, the authors have done a very good job of
covering the topic of the spine as well as that of the anatomy and pathology
of the central nervous system. The illustrations, for the most part, are
excellent, as are the clinical case histories and radiographs. I especially
liked the excellent descriptions of the various basic techniques of harvesting
a wide variety of bone grafts, along with mention of possible
complications.
I would offer one note of caution: In the first chapter, Figure 1.23 shows
skeletal traction in the prone position on a Mayfield horseshoe headrest,
which has been associated with postoperative blindness resulting from a loss
of the blood supply to the retina. In other situations throughout the text,
Mayfield tongs are utilized during the approach to the posterior cervical
spine, thus avoiding the problem of pressure around the eyes (Fig. 1.27).
This book was written for a wide variety of readers, including medical
students and residents as well as neurosurgeons and orthopaedic surgeons who
perform spine surgery. I certainly would recommend that this textbook be
included in the library of all training programs and medical schools.