Cervical degenerative disc disease is a common spinal disorder causing significant morbidity worldwide, Patients commonly present with neck pain, cervical radiculopathy, myelopathy, sensory disturbances, motor weakness, and gait abnormalities.
Degenerative changes may involve single or multiple cervical levels leading to neural compression and instability, Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) is considered the gold standard surgical procedure for treating symptomatic cervical disc disease refractory to conservative treatment, The procedure provides direct decompression of neural structures, restoration of disc height, correction of cervical alignment, and stabilization of the motion segment. Several modifications of ACDF have evolved over the years, Traditional plating systems improve stability and fusion rates but may increase the incidence of dysphagia, soft tissue irritation, and adjacent segment degeneration, Stand-alone cages were introduced to reduce plate-related complications and decrease operative time. Recently, integrated cage-screw fixation systems have gained popularity because they combine the advantages of stand-alone cages with improved immediate fixation and biomechanical stability.
Despite many studies comparing these techniques, controversy remains regarding which construct provides superior clinical and radiological outcomes, particularly in multilevel disease.