[Vertebral arthroplasty: a new approach to spinal surgery]

Surgical treatment of lumbar spine degenerative trouble was until recently limited to destructive techniques like discectomies for disk prolapse, laminectomies for narrow canal and the different way of lumbar fusion for more advanced degenerative troubles or unstable spine. Design of new materials and surgical techniques give spine surgeon an alternative to the usual techniques of surgical treatment of lumbar degenerative disk disease. They share a new concept of a more conservative surgical treatment and try to restore the function and mobility of lumbar segments, performing true arthroplasty of the lumbar spine. Here are described some of these new arthroplastic techniques, such as disk prosthesis or disk nucleus prosthesis.