Unilateral biportal endoscopic (UBE) posterior cervical foraminotomy utilizing intraoperative navigation: surgical technique.
- 1Division of Spine Surgery, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, NYU Langone Health, New York, NY, USA.
Abstract
Unilateral cervical radiculopathy is a common pathology seen by spine surgeons and can be treated in a variety of ways. Traditional operative management of unilateral radiculopathy caused by disc herniation(s) has consisted of anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF), cervical disc arthroplasty (CDA), or posterior cervical foraminotomy (PCF). Each approach carries with it unique challenges and potential complications ranging from dysphagia to vascular injury, post-operative bleeding, non-union, subsidence, and significant pain. PCF is a well-established motion-preserving treatment for unilateral radiculopathy without myelopathy that avoids fusion-related adjacent-segment disease and approach-related dysphagia. Unilateral biportal endoscopy (UBE) is being increasingly utilized as an ultra-minimally invasive technique for decompression in the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine. Applications of UBE in the cervical spine continue to expand and have shown great promise in the treatment of cervical radiculopathy arising from disc herniations causing unilateral symptoms. UBE-PCF is safe and effective and has been shown to produce lower early post-operative neck pain, reduced blood loss, and shorter operative time than microscopic PCF. We present the case of a 36-year-old male with left-sided C8 radiculopathy resulting from a left C7-T1 disc herniation that was successfully treated with UBE-PCF. This procedure was performed with the use of intraoperative navigation for accurate portal placement and anatomy verification. We describe our indications, operating room setup, and surgical technique in detail.
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BibTeX
@article{bunzel2026unilateral,
title = {{Unilateral biportal endoscopic (UBE) posterior cervical foraminotomy utilizing intraoperative navigation: surgical technique.}},
author = {Eli W Bunzel and Cyrus Emami and Alexander Kucherina and Zachary Hubbard and Tina Raman and Erick Kazarian and Charla Fischer and Yong Kim and Themistocles Protopsaltis},
journal = {Journal of spine surgery (Hong Kong)},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.21037/jss-2026-0159},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42996518},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Unilateral biportal endoscopic (UBE) posterior cervical foraminotomy utilizing intraoperative navigation: surgical technique.
AU - Eli W Bunzel
AU - Cyrus Emami
AU - Alexander Kucherina
AU - Zachary Hubbard
AU - Tina Raman
AU - Erick Kazarian
AU - Charla Fischer
AU - Yong Kim
AU - Themistocles Protopsaltis
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/22
JO - Journal of spine surgery (Hong Kong)
DO - 10.21037/jss-2026-0159
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42996518
AB - Unilateral cervical radiculopathy is a common pathology seen by spine surgeons and can be treated in a variety of ways. Traditional operative management of unilateral radiculopathy caused by disc herniation(s) has consisted of anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF), cervical disc arthroplasty (CDA), or posterior cervical foraminotomy (PCF). Each approach carries with it unique challenges and potential complications ranging from dysphagia to vascular injury, post-operative bleeding, non-union, subsidence, and significant pain. PCF is a well-established motion-preserving treatment for unilateral radiculopathy without myelopathy that avoids fusion-related adjacent-segment disease and approach-related dysphagia. Unilateral biportal endoscopy (UBE) is being increasingly utilized as an ultra-minimally invasive technique for decompression in the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine. Applications of UBE in the cervical spine continue to expand and have shown great promise in the treatment of cervical radiculopathy arising from disc herniations causing unilateral symptoms. UBE-PCF is safe and effective and has been shown to produce lower early post-operative neck pain, reduced blood loss, and shorter operative time than microscopic PCF. We present the case of a 36-year-old male with left-sided C8 radiculopathy resulting from a left C7-T1 disc herniation that was successfully treated with UBE-PCF. This procedure was performed with the use of intraoperative navigation for accurate portal placement and anatomy verification. We describe our indications, operating room setup, and surgical technique in detail.
SN - 2414-469X
SN - 2414-4630
ER -