During a corpectomy, damaged vertebrae are removed from your spine to alleviate pressure on your spinal cord or nerves.
The purpose of a corpectomy is to remove a damaged vertebra, often to decompress the spinal cord and/or nerves. It is very similar to a discectomy, but used in cases when the damage is more severe.
This surgery removes all or part of the body of the vertebra. An incision is made in the neck, and the surgeon performs a discectomy at both ends of the vertebra to be removed. They then remove the damaged vertebre, and a graft or an artificial piece is put in its place and fused with the surrounding bones.
