Incidence of Tetraplegia After Cervical Laminectomy Versus Laminoplasty: A Propensity Score Matched Analysis…

Cohort studyGlobal spine journal· Aug 2026

Incidence of Tetraplegia After Cervical Laminectomy Versus Laminoplasty: A Propensity Score Matched Analysis Using US Collaborative Network Database in TriNetX.

Teleale Fikru Gebeyehu, Yashvi Shah, Lucas Gorial Garmo … James S Harrop

SpineCohort studyTreatmentQ1IF 3.7

Laminectomy linked to higher tetraplegia risk than laminoplasty for C1-C4 surgery

Incidence of Tetraplegia After Cervical Laminectomy Versus Laminoplasty: A Propensity Score Matched Analysis Using US Collaborative Network Database in TriNetX.

Teleale Fikru Gebeyehu … James S Harrop

Global spine journal · Aug 2026 · Q1 in Surgery

Purpose

To identify and compare the understudied, rare, and catastrophic incidence of tetraplegia in patients undergoing laminectomy versus laminoplasty for degenerative cervical conditions.

Methods

We analyzed propensity-score-matched laminectomy (with or without fusion) and laminoplasty cohorts from the TriNetX US Collaborative Network database.

n = 3,952 patients

2.2%

Results

2.2%

1-year tetraplegia risk after C1-C4 laminectomy, vs 1.1% after laminoplasty

n = 3,952 patients

More results

Average age after matching was 61.5 years.

Most patients were Caucasian (∼72%) and had spinal stenosis (94%), and/or spondylosis (∼71%) or disc disorder (∼29%) with myelopathy.

More results

Occurrence (Risk, %) for laminectomy at C5-C7 in 3,934 patients were 11 (0.3), 25 (0.6), 41 (1), 53 (1.3), and 55 (1.4) versus 13 (0.3), 22 (0.6), 27 (0.7), 29 (0.7) and 30 (0.8) for laminoplasty in 3,948 patients with significance for the difference on 180 and 365 days.

“

Conclusion · 1 of 2

Both procedures had very low incidence of tetraplegia. Laminectomy was associated with marginally increased risk of incomplete tetraplegia compared to laminoplasty, especially for C1-C4 region.

Conclusion · 2 of 2

Although minimal, risk of tetraplegia increased over time as count of patients with tetraplegia cumulatively increased.

Incidence of Tetraplegia After Cervical Laminectomy Versus Laminoplasty: A Propensity Score Matched Analysis Using US Collaborative Network Database in TriNetX.

Incidence of Tetraplegia After Cervical Laminectomy Versus Laminoplasty: A Propensity Score Matched Analysis Using US Collaborative Network Database in TriNetX.

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