Cervical disc arthroplasty

Cervical disc arthroplasty is a motion-preserving procedure that is an alternative to fusion. The goals are to maintain cervical motion, reduce adjacent segment degeneration and eliminate nonunion. Disc replacement was developed to primarily treat neural compressive disorders such as radiculopathy and possibly myelopathy. The number of implants available is growing rapidly. Studies of in vitro wear testing have claimed substantially less wear for cervical implants than that seen with prosthetic hips and knees. Short-term clinical results after decompression and cervical disc replacement for the treatment of cervical radiculopathy or myelopathy are encouraging. Prospective, randomized trials are lacking. Cervical disc replacement is an innovative technology that preserves motion at the instrumented levels and will potentially improve load transfer to the adjacent levels compared with fusion. Clinical reports of success of cervical total disc replacement are encouraging but also quite preliminary. As time progresses, a clearer role for the place of cervical disc replacement should emerge.