Anterior Cervical Corpectomy

...with fusion.

I kept thinking they were trying to con-fuse me. Over and over last Thursday they kept asking me what I was having done. I kept telling them:

Anterior Cervical Corpectomy with fusion.

Right. They kept telling me.

So why keep asking me?

Actually I knew why and it had nothing to do with my cognitive ability although we did kid about that just before they started the anesthesia.

It's all about safety and making sure you are doing the right thing with the right patient. For that I was grateful that they were double checking and that I had the ability to remember

Anterior Cervical Corpectomy with fusion.

In case you are wondering, this is what it means:

When the cervical disease encompasses more than just the disc space, the spine surgeon may recommend removal of the vertebral body as well as the disc spaces at either end to completely decompress the cervical canal.

This procedure, a cervical corpectomy, is often done for multi-level cervical stenosis with spinal cord compression caused by bone spur (osteophytes) growth.
--Spine Health

It is "anterior" because they go in the front- and the fusion is to close up the space caused by the corpectomy.

All clear?