Cervical Hardware Removal
At present there is some debate about whether to remove hardware that has been used in previous cervical surgeries. While clearly it is not a good idea to have unnecessary hardware remain inside a patient, removing the materials can cause complications, particularly since scar tissue will have grown around the surgical site. Recently, a new evaluative tool, known as electrodiagnostic functional assessment, has become available. This assessment method combines electromyography (EMG), functional capacity evaluation (FCE), and range of motion (ROM) measurement to provide important data so that an informed decision can be made about whether hardware removal is necessary in an individual case.