Abstract:[Objective] To compare the clinical outcomes of selective anterior cervical corpectomy fusion versus posterior unilateral open-door laminectomy and lateral mass fixation for multilevel cervical spondylotic myelopathy (MCSM). [Methods] A retrospective study was conducted on 62 patients who underwent surgical treatment for MCSM from April 2013 to March 2017. Based on preoperative doctor-pa- tient communication, 32 patients underwent anterior cervical corpectomy fusion (anterior group), while the remaining 30 patients underwent posterior unilateral open-door laminoplasty and lateral mass fixation (posterior group). Perioperative period, follow-up and imaging data of the two groups were compared. [Results] Although the anterior group spent significantly longer operative time [(168.4±36.4) min vs (118.5± 33.8) min, P<0.05], with more intraoperative blood loss [(686.5±133.6) ml vs (387.0±99.6) ml, P<0.05] than the posterior group, the former proved significantly superior to the latter in terms of incision length [(7.1±0.7) cm vs (10.7±0.7) cm, P<0.05] and complication rate [(7/32) vs (24/30), P<0.05]. All patients in both groups were followed up for (34.9±12.6) months on an average, with no a significant difference in the time to resume full weight- bearing activities between the two groups (P>0.05). The ASIA neurological functional grade, NDI score, JOA score and pyramidal tract sign significantly improved over time in both groups (P<0.05), which proved not statistically significant between the two groups at anyone of time points accordingly (P>0.05). Radiographically, cervical lordosis was significantly improved at the latest fol- low-up compared to that preoperatively in the anterior group (P<0.05), whereas remained unchanged in the posterior group (P>0.05). Al- though there was no significant difference in the cervical lordosis angle between the two groups before surgery (P>0.05), the anterior group was significantly superior to the posterior group at the last follow-up [(13.6±5.5)° vs (9.4±5.0)°, P<0.05]. At the last follow-up the minimum sagittal diameter of the cervical canal significantly increased in both groups compared with those preoperatively (P<0.05), which were not sig- nificantly different between the 2 groups at corresponding time points (P>0.05). [Conclusion] Both surgical procedures do effectively re- lieve the pain, improve neurological function and obtain satisfactory clinical efficacy for MCSM. By contrast, the anterior surgery improve the cervical lordosis with low complication rate, while the posterior technique consumes short operation time with relatively less intraoperative blood loss.