Abstract:Cervical spondylosis, a degenerative condition with a prevalence of 13.76% that affects 50% of the population over 60 years old and is increasingly occurring in younger individuals, relies on nerve block therapy as a core non-surgical treatment whose efficacy and safety are directly determined by the precision of the guidance technique. This article reviews the technical evolution from traditional X-ray/CT-guided epidural blocks (interlaminar and transforaminal approaches) and selective nerve root blocks, which, while therapeutically established, present challenges including radiation exposure, difficult monitoring of drug dispersion, and high complication risks, to ultrasound guidance that offers radiation-free real-time visualization and improves the safety and efficiency of procedures such as selective cervical nerve root blocks, yet remains limited by poor deep tissue imaging and insufficient assessment of epidural drug spread, and further to emerging technologies like surgical navigation and artificial intelligence assistance that enable submillimeter-level positioning and intelligent image analysis, thereby creating new pathways for precision treatment. Future development requires optimized parameters, advancement in multimodal image fusion, and accumulation of high-level evidence to promote treatment toward greater precision, intelligence, and personalization.
