A corpectomy is surgery to relieve pressure on the spinal cord because of spinal stenosis. In spinal stenosis, bone spurs press against the spinal cord, leading to a condition called myelopathy. When the cervical disease encompasses more than just the disk space, the removal of the vertebral body and the disk spaces at either end to completely decompress the cervical canal may be needed. This procedure, a corpectomy, is often performed for multilevel cervical stenosis.

Bone grafts are used to fill in the space. This procedure is used when bone spurs have developed in more than one vertebra. A metal cage is used to replace the void left by removed vertebra.