Cervical and lumbar disc prostheses

A big question that many spine patients ask is: Can vertebral discs be changed? I mean, is there an alternative to putting screws in? And the answer is yes.

What is a record? A vertebral disc is a mattress, a shock absorber that we have between the vertebrae, which on certain occasions breaks, letting the nucleus, a kind of jelly, leave its interior; We call this a herniated disc. On other occasions the disc has become dehydrated or it has worn down with the movement of the vertebrae and no longer fulfills its function, is it possible to change that disc? Yes

There are cervical discs and lumbar discs. Broadly speaking, they are the same, only they have some differences. Cervical discs, for example, are smaller and although patients have great respect for this area, disc prostheses are usually of excellent quality for life, making them the best resource at the cervical level when it is necessary to operate, either due to an osteoarthritis disc, herniated discs or spinal compression.

Placement of a cervical disc prosthesis

At the lumbar level, the discs can also be changed, they are even the ones that mark the notorious differences between good and bad surgery. If the patient meets the appropriate conditions and their lesions are in L5-S1 and L4-L5, it is possible to place disc prostheses at the lumbar level from the bottom, which will function as vertebral discs.

Placement of a cervical disc prosthesis anteriorly

There are times when it is not worthwhile to place prosthetic discs under L5-S1 and it is opted to place a disc called the «ALIF box» that acts as a vertebral disc, this what it does is to provide height to the nerves, allowing them to breathe, that they oxygenate and consequently, that the pain diminishes or disappears.

At Biziondo we repeatedly talk about the one or not to use screws, these were a great invention in the 80's, even today they are still useful, however the big difference between whether their placement is successful or not lies in the use of discs. For example, if you have to put screws because the displacement is very large, there is a huge scoliosis, or there is simply no other way to correct a patient's problem, by placing screws and a disk in the middle as a support, these screws will to be very solid. If screws are placed without discs, or a fastening in front, this will cause problems for the patient.

40% of surgeries that involve placement of screws without discs or fastening from the front end up being problematic, over time the discs can generate slack, cause micro-movements in the vertebrae, and in turn, the patient's pain will not diminish.

In countries like France, this technique has been used for 20-30 years. Fortunately, this technique is used more and more in Spain, with the French Institute of the Biziondo column being one of the centers where this type of intervention is carried out.

In the future it is possible that more and more traumatologists and neurosurgeons will impose these techniques and the majority of spine patients will have disc prostheses to help solve their spinal problems.