Cervical disc replacement surgery involves removing a diseased cervical disc and replacing it with an artificial disc. Before this procedure was available, the affected disc was removed and the vertebrae above and below were fused together to prevent motion.
Disc replacement surgery has the advantage of allowing more movement and creating less stress on your remaining vertebrae than the more traditional cervical disc surgery.
Why is Cervical Disc Replacement Surgery Needed?
Loss of space between your cervical vertebrae from cervical disc degeneration, or wear and tear, is very common. Cervical discs begin to collapse and bulge with age. This happens to most people by age 60, but it is generally unknown why some people experience more pain and symptoms than others.
Symptoms may include:
- Neck pain
- Neck stiffness
- Headache
- Pain that travels down into your shoulders or into your arms
- Weakness of your shoulders, arms, hands or legs
- Numbness or ‘pins and needles’ feeling in your arms
Surgical Procedure for Cervical Disc Replacement
The standard surgical procedure for a cervical disc replacement requires an anterior approach (from the front of the neck). A typical single-level surgery will take little more than an hour to perform.
- The surgery is performed using a general anesthetic and a 2.5-5 cm incision is made in the front of the neck.
- The affected disc is removed, as are any disc fragments or bone spurs that are pressing on a nerve root or the spinal cord.
- The disc space is restored to its normal disc height to help relieve pressure on the surrounding nerves.
- Using live X-ray imaging for visual guidance, the artificial disc device is placed in the prepared disc space. More than one artificial disc size may be tried before the surgeon decides on the best fit.
- After the artificial disc is placed and attached to the 2 adjacent vertebrae (above and below), the incision is sewn up.