[Updates on ossification of posterior longitudinal ligament. Conservative treatments for OPLL]

Abstract

Since the main pathology of OPLL in cervical spine is the myelopathy due to mechanical compression, any conservative treatment is not generally indicated for this pathology. However, some of the cases with slight extent of myelopathy show no aggravation after the conservative treatments. Therefore, conservative treatments are indicated through considering the various aspects of the each case's conditions, such as the severity of myelopathy, spinal cord deformity, the presence of dynamic factors, and others (age, duration of myelopathy, patient's motivation, patient's social life-style, and the general conditions) . Furthermore, the decision making or the differential diagnosis with pathologies with the similar symptoms to cervical spine is performed with the analysis of the effectiveness by the conservative treatments.