Fig. 1

The illustration of management on the apical vertebrae area. A The posterior–anterior (PA) and lateral overview of surgical site, and the region of grew circle correlated with apex region; B The local posterior–anterior and lateral view on the apical vertebrae area in the control group, where only spinous process was resected; C The local posterior–anterior and lateral view on the apical vertebrae area in the Ponte group, where apart from spinous process, superior and inferior articular processes, part of vertebral lamina and ligamentum flavum were resected