Spinal disc replacement

FIGURE 12.19 The Maverick cervical disc replacement. Image courtesy of Medtronic Spinal and Biologies and reproduced from [82] with permission. 

Total disc replacement is a new, promising field of spine implant technology that has the potential to revolutionize the treatment of degenerative disc disease. Today, conventional UHMWPE is incorporated in both cervical and lumbar disc arthroplasty. It is clear from both in vitro and clinical data that disc replacements can successfully preserve the motion of treated spinal level. Aside from patient satisfaction and the speed of recovery, there are modest clinical benefits with disc replacement that manifest in the short term as compared with fusion. Furthermore, unlike fusion procedures, disc replacements may also need to be revised due to poor implantation technique or failure of the device. On the other hand, over the long term, the primary benefit of disc replacement is expected to be the reduced incidence of adjacent segment degeneration, which will hopefully offset the new, and as yet, poorly quantified risks associated with the technology. It will be many years, probably over a decade, before sufficient... 

Shim CS, Lee S, Maeng DH, Lee SH. Vertical split fracture of the vertebral body following total disc replacement using ProdDisc report of two cases. J Spinal Disord Tech 2005 October 18(5) 465-9. 

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