Prosthetic lumbar disc replacement for degenerative disc disease

Mechanical articulated device to replace intervertebral disc as a treatment for low back pain secondary to disc degeneration has emerged as a promising tool for selected patients. The potential advantages are prevention of adjacent segment degeneration, maintenance of mobility as well as avoidance of all the complications associated with fusion. The short-term results have been comparable to that of fusion, a few mid-term results have shown mixed outcome, but information on long-term results and performance are not available at present. The rationale for lumbar disc arthroplasty, indications, contraindications, the various artificial devices in the market and the concepts intrinsic to each of them, basic technique of insertion, complications are discussed and a brief summary of our experience with one of the devices is presented.