The study included 136 patients who received disc replacement or ACDF at one or two surgical levels and completed a questionnaire at four weeks, three months, one year and two years postoperatively.
The researchers found:
• Dysphagia was significantly higher than baseline levels in both groups at four weeks.
• Statistically significant difference between the groups only showed up at two years, when patients in the ACDF group showed significantly higher dysphagia levels.
• There was a stronger association to implant type than to number of surgical levels for dysphagia.
• The surgery duration was associated to the number of surgical levels but did not differ significantly between implant types.
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