Trial reportJournal of neurosurgery. Spine2014
Headache relief after anterior cervical discectomy: post hoc analysis of a randomized investigational device exemption trial: clinical article.
Trial report in Journal of neurosurgery. Spine, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04631471 (Regeneration in Cervical Degenerative Myelopathy - a Multi-centre, Double-blind, Randomised, Placebo Controlled Trial Assessing the Efficacy of Ibudilast as an Adjuvant Treatment to Decompressive Surgery for Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy), which is not on this map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Regeneration in Cervical Degenerative Myelopathy - a Multi-centre, Double-blind, Randomised, Placebo Controlled Trial Assessing the Efficacy of Ibudilast as an Adjuvant Treatment to Decompressive Surgery for Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- Cervical Artificial Disc Replacement Versus Fusion for Cervical Degenerative Disc Disease: A Health Technology Assessment.Ontario health technology assessment series · 2019Pooled it
- Effect of cervical traction on cervicogenic headache in patients with cervical radiculopathy: a preliminary randomized controlled trial.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2024Trial
- Predictors of cervicogenic headache in patients with chronic neck pain: a prospective study of 6-month follow-up.The Journal of manual & manipulative therapy · 2026Article
- Article
- Association between cervical MRI findings and patient-reported severity of headache in patients with persistent neck pain: a cross-sectional study.Chiropractic & manual therapies · 2025Article
- Clinical features, risk factors, and a nomogram for predicting refractory cervicogenic headache: a retrospective multivariate analysis.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Article
- Global trends in research on cervicogenic headache: a bibliometric analysis.Frontiers in neurology · 2023Article
- Outcomes of Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy From The Perspective of Persons Living With the Condition: Findings of a Semistructured Interview Process With Partnered Internet Survey.Global spine journal · 2022Article
- Anterior cervical decompression and fusion surgery for cervicogenic headache: A multicenter prospective cohort study.Frontiers in neurology · 2022Article
- Expert panel's guideline on cervicogenic headache: The Chinese Association for the Study of Pain recommendation.World journal of clinical cases · 2021Review
- Current provision of myelopathy education in medical schools in the UK: protocol for a national medical student survey.BMJ open · 2020Article
- Article
- Anterior Cervical Surgery for the Treatment of Cervicogenic Headache Caused by Cervical Spondylosis.Journal of pain research · 2020Article
- Recovery priorities in degenerative cervical myelopathy: a cross-sectional survey of an international, online community of patients.BMJ open · 2019Observational
- Occipital Neuralgia and Cervicogenic Headache: Diagnosis and Management.Current neurology and neuroscience reports · 2019Review
- A Novel Insight Into the Challenges of Diagnosing Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy Using Web-Based Symptom Checkers.Journal of medical Internet research · 2019Article
- The Chinese Association for the Study of Pain (CASP): Expert Consensus on the Cervicogenic Headache.Pain research & management · 2019Review
- Association between Cervical Spondylosis and Migraine: A Nationwide Retrospective Cohort Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2018Article
- Cervicogenic headache alleviation after cervical coblation nucleoplasty: A prospective cohort study.Medicine · 2016Observational
- Relief of Cervicogenic Headaches after Single-Level and Multilevel Anterior Cervical Diskectomy: A 5-Year Post Hoc Analysis.Global spine journal · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectThe authors analyzed headache relief after anterior cervical discectomy. Headache may be relieved after anterior cervical discectomy, but the mechanism is unknown. If headaches were directly referred from upper cervical pathology, more headache relief would be expected from surgery performed at higher cervical levels. If spinal kinesthetics were the mechanism, then headache relief may differ between arthroplasty and fusion. Headache relief after anterior cervical discectomy was quantified by the operated disc level and by the method of operation (arthroplasty vs arthrodesis).
methodsThe authors performed a post hoc analysis of an artificial disc trial. Data on headache pain were extracted from the Neck Disability Index (NDI) questionnaire.
resultsA total of 260 patients underwent single-level arthroplasty or arthodesis. Preoperatively, 52% reported NDI headache scores of 3 or greater, compared with only 13%-17% postoperatively. The model-based mean NDI headache score at baseline was 2.5 (95% CI 2.3-2.7) and was reduced by 1.3 points after surgery (95% CI 1.2-1.4, p < 0.001). Higher cervical levels were associated with a greater degree of preoperative headache, but there was no association with headache relief. There was no significant difference in headache relief between arthroplasty and arthrodesis.
conclusionsMost patients with symptomatic cervical spondylosis have headache as a preoperative symptom (88%). Anterior cervical discectomy with both arthroplasty and arthrodesis is associated with a durable decrease in headache. Headache relief is not related to the level of operation. The mechanism for headache reduction remains unclear.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.