Cervical Fusion





Cervical spine fusion is a surgical procedure in which two or more bones (vertebrae) of the cervical spine are joined together so as to eliminate the movement between them. This is done by placing bone grafts or bone graft substitutes in between the affected vertebrae to stimulate bone healing. This promotes bone growth and eventually fuses the vertebrae into a single solid bone, permanently. Instrumentation such as plates, screws and rods are also used to hold the vertebrae together while the bone graft heals and fuses them together.

Bone grafts can be taken from the patient’s own hip bone (auto graft) or from a cadaver bone (allograft)acquired through a bone bank.Several artificial bone grafts substitute such as demineralised bone matrices (DBMs) and bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) and ceramics are also available and may be used.


Spinal fusion surgery is mostly performed along with other surgical procedures, to stabilize the spine. These surgical procedures include foraminotomy or laminectomy for spinal stenosis or discectomy for degenerative disc disease. It may also be recommended for treatment of the following conditions when nonsurgical measures have failed to be effective:

  • Injury or fracture of the vertebra
  • Instability of the spine caused by infections, tumours or spondylolisthesis (a condition in which a bone (vertebra) in the spine slips out of position onto the bone below it.
  • Correction of abnormal spinal curvature (kyphosis)

Risks and Complications

Some specific complications after cervical spinal surgery includes infection in the spine, nerve damage, non-union (not enough bone formation) of the vertebrae fused and persistent pain at the fusion site.

Follow your doctor’s instructions and maintain a healthy lifestyle to achieve better outcomes.