Cervical Artificial Discs Minimize Future Surgery Risk
Wednesday, April 12, 2017 | Boca Raton, Florida
Dr McConnell recently reported the long term beneficial effects of total disc replacement in the neck at the International Society for the Advancement of Spinal Surgery (ISASS) in Boca Raton, Florida.
The presentation, Motion Preservation and the Incidence of Subsequent Surgical Intervention after Treatment with the Selectively Constrained SECURE®-C Cervical Artificial Disc, concluded that artificial total disc replacement surgery for painful herniated discs in the neck is a sound alternative to the traditional treatment of discectomy and fusion.
While fusion surgery is generally successful for treating herniated discs in the neck, it comes at the expense of lost motion between two vertebra. Lack of movement at one disc will increase stress and strain at the adjacent discs. As a result, the disc adjacent to a fusion can degenerate faster and may become painful and require additional surgical intervention.
SECURE®-C Cervical Artificial Disc
The study followed 380 patients for 7 years. Each patient suffered with herniated discs and were treated with either total disc replacement (Secure-C artificial disc) or fusion surgery. The study attempted to determine the effects on the discs adjacent to the site of each surgery.
Of the patients who received fusion in their neck, 17.4% eventually required additional surgery at an adjacent disc, while only 4.2% of patients treated with Secure-C required adjacent disc surgery. After 7 years, patients treated with fusion surgery in the neck for a herniated disc were 4 times more likely to require surgery at any adjacent disc level than patients treated with an artificial disc.
These study results were significant and highlight the benefits of total disc replacement in helping to prevent accelerated degeneration of adjacent discs, as well as the importance of maintaining normal motion in the neck.