%0 Journal Article %A Steven M. Andelman %A Steven J. McAnany %A Sheeraz A. Qureshi %A Andrew C. Hecht %T Bilateral C5 Motor Palsy after Anterior Cervical Decompression and Fusion: A Case Report and Review of the Literature %D 2017 %R 10.14444/4014 %J International Journal of Spine Surgery %P 14 %V 11 %N 2 %X Background Bilateral C5 motor palsy is a rare but potentially debilitating complication after cervical spine decompression with very few reports in the published literature.Purpose To present a case of bilateral C5 motor palsy after anterior cervical decompression and fusion and discuss the incidence and risk factors of this complication.Study Design/Setting We report a case of a 57-year-old male who underwent a three level C3-C6 anterior cervical discectomy and fusion with instrumentation who developed a postoperative bilateral C5 motor palsy.Methods A review of the literature was performed regarding reports on and incidence of post-operative bilateral C5 palsy following either anterior or posterior cervical spine decompression.Results Bilateral C5 motor palsy is a rare complication of cervical spine decompression with an overall incidence of 0.38%. Although a group of risk factors have been suggested no single cause has been identified.Conclusions Bilateral C5 motor palsy is a rare but debilitating complication of cervical decompression. %U http://www.ijssurgery.com/content/ijss/11/2/14.full.pdf