Anterior Cervical decompression and fusion with autologous bone graft

The anterior approach to the cervical spine has become a standard operative procedure for the treatment of degenerative, neoplastic, traumatic and infective pathologies exerting a ventral compression of the spinal cord and/or cervical roots. Since the original descriptions of different pioneers, the progress of available grafting options proposed allograft-, synthetic- and factor/cell-based technologies for bone graft substitutes. In fact, the autologous bone graft is still considered the gold standard for anterior cervical fusion after anterior cervical discectomy or corpectomy because is the only graft with the properties of osteogenesis, osteoinduction and osteoconduction. This chapter describes the technical nuances of anterior cervical decompression and fusion with autologous bone graft.