Arachnoiditis ossificans is a rare, chronic and progressive disease, especially cauda equina. Most of its causes are due to severe trauma or sequelae after spinal surgery, generally gradual calcification from the initial adhesive arachnoiditis to the end stage of ossified arachnoiditis. At present, the treatment of this rare disease standard is difficult to determine, and the clinical outcomes of conservative and surgical treatment options remain controversial. We present a 26-year-old female patient who was postoperative lumbar surgery for trauma, plain and reconstructive X-ray, CT and MRI images showed an ossified lesion within the master at the L5-S1 levels and compression of the left spinal canal at L4/5 level. We explored and decompressed spinal canal and released root nerves, while the calcified cauda equina nerve was not treated. Postoperative supportive treatment including detumescence, anti-inflammation, nutritional nerve and analgesia, the postoperative clinical course of the patient was good and the patient was very satisfied with the curative effect. This case, along with a review of literature is reported.

The aim of this research is to explore the difference of imaging parameters in patients with C5 palsy after cervical expansive open-door laminoplasty. A retrospective analysis was made on the clinical data of 62 patients who were diagnosed as multiple cervical spondylotic myelopathy and operated with cervical expansive open-door laminoplasty using Centerpiece titanium miniplate fixation. According to weather C5 nerve root palsy occurred after surgery, the patients were divided into normal group (group A with 8 cases) and paralysis group (group B with 54 cases). The preoperative and postoperative cervical spine angle (C2-7) enlargement rate of spinal canal, distance of spine cord shifting and cervical curvature between two groups were measured. Compare with group A (27.38±1.99°), the average lamina open angle of group B (34.56±5.55°) was larger, which were found statistically significant difference (P<0.05). In addition, there were no significant differences between two groups in C3 or C7 lamina open angle. However, significant differences were found between two groups in C4, C5 and C6 lamina open angle. The average enlargement rate of spinal canal and distance of spine cord shifting of group B were larger than group A, which was statistically differences (P<0.05). The opening angle of the lamina, the expansion rate of the spinal canal, and the distance of the spinal cord may prevent the occurrence of cervical 5 nerve root palsy in cervical expansive open-door laminoplasty.