Cervical Disc Arthroplasty has become an accepted way of dealing with cervical spine pathologies. In previous years (and still today to a lesser degree), fusion has been the preferred treatment option for cervical disc herniation or other spinal pathologies such as spinal radiculopathy etc. The problem with fusion, though, is that motion between the disc segments is 'fused' or stopped. This, according to various literature sources, causes what is called 'Adjacent Level Disc Disease' (ADD). ADD is a phenomenon where the normal loads inflicted onto the fused segments are transmitted to the adjacent inferior and superior segments causing an excessive increase in load to these segments. This is effect gets transmitted to all the adjacent vertebrae segments with a summating effect of the load to each adjacent segment. This causes eventual failure of all the intervertebral discs of the adjacent vertebrae, which can lead to more fusion procedures, which in turn can cause the patient severe trauma and discomfort. These patients typically walk in a very upright 'stiff' posture, because of the loss of their normal range of motion in the spine.
Disc arthroplasty, because of it's design, retains the range of motion of the spine, and can therefore be regarded as a novel solution to common spinal pathologies leading to fusion and subsequent loss of natural motion.
More on Cervical Disc replacement will follow in future postings.
