Any surgery can be risky, but the risks associated with Cervical Spine Surgery can include infection, paralysis and even death. There may be an infection of the wound that requires some dressing, removal of a stitch and/or antiobotics, deeper infection may require a return to the hospital to drain the collection of pus. Infection may also affect the cerebrospinal fluid or CSF around the nerve roots and spinal cord, which is called meningitis and requires hospitalization and intravenous antibiotics, but is virtually always curable.
Infection of an operated disc space or of bone often requires initial hospitalization and intravenous antibiotics, followed by several weeks or months of oral antibiotics, often supervised by an infectious diseases doctor. Prior to Cervical Spine Surgery, there may already be some nerve or spinal cord damage causing muscle weakness. An already compressed nerve is at increased risk of being injured because of the manipulation needed to try to free the nerve or spinal cord.