To watch a video of this procedure, please click here.
Cervical laminoplasty is a surgical procedure that removes pressure from the spinal cord by creating more space in the spinal canal.
Often spinal cord compression occurs at multiple levels of the cervical spine. In this case, a multi-level laminoplasty can be performed.
A laminoplasty is performed via an incision in the back of the neck (posterior approach). Instead of removing the bone and other compressive structures, the bone overlying the spinal cord (the “lamina”) is partially cut on both sides. This creates a hinge on one side of the lamina and a small opening on the other side. The final position resembles a hinged open door. This vastly increases the space available for the spinal cord and takes the pressure off of it.
