A corpectomy is a surgical procedure to remove a vertebral body, usually to decompress the spinal cord.
In this surgery, the vertebral bodies and adjacent vertebral discs are removed in order to alleviate the pressure on the spinal cord, which is causing spinal stenosis and cervical myelopathy.
A bone graft is then inserted into the space to allow for a fusion of the bone segments into one long bone. The procedure can also be used treat some fractures, tumors, infections or spinal deformities. In Latin, "Corpus" means body and "ectomy" means remove.
