Multilevel cervical disc disease refers to the simultaneous presence of degenerative changes in more than one intervertebral disc of the cervical spine, resulting in a diffuse rather than localized impairment of the region.
This condition usually includes a combination of disc dehydration and loss of disc height, disc bulging or herniation at multiple levels, as well as associated findings such as osteophyte formation and uncovertebral joint arthropathy, which aggravate one another and accelerate the overall degenerative process.
It is mainly caused by the natural aging process of the spine; however, it is aggravated by factors such as chronic poor posture, repetitive mechanical loading, smoking, and genetic predisposition.
Involvement of multiple levels increases the likelihood of not only local neck pain but also radiculopathy or, in more severe cases, spinal canal stenosis with the risk of myelopathy, as the cumulative degeneration at multiple levels further reduces the available space for neural structures.
The clinical presentation varies significantly, ranging from mild stiffness and neck pain to multilevel radicular symptoms with pain, tingling, or weakness affecting multiple areas of the upper limb.
Diagnosis is based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which demonstrates the extent and severity of involvement at each individual level, while treatment is individualized according to the number of symptomatic levels, ranging from conservative therapy to surgical intervention, such as multilevel decompression or spinal fusion, in more complex cases.