Single level cervical arthroplasty with the Discocerv prosthesis: a preliminary report

The authors conducted a prospective nonrandomised study about a new cervical disc prosthesis: the Discocerv Cervidisc Evolution. Fourteen patients (10 men and 4 women) were treated at a single mobile level, between July 2006 and November 2008. Their mean age was 40.8 years (range 31-56), and the mean clinical follow-up period was 12.8 months (range 9-18). Diagnosis was disc herniation (n = 12) and stenosis (n = 2). The VAS for neck pain, the VAS for radiating pain and the Neck Disability Index decreased significantly at last followup (p <0.05). According to Odom's criteria 81.6% of the patients had a good or excellent outcome. The range of movement of the cervical spine as a whole and of the treated functional segmental unit were preserved at final follow-up, which suggests that the disc prosthesis might prevent osteoarthritis at adjacent levels. The neutral sagittal alignment of the cervical spine as a whole and of the functional spinal unit showed kyphosis shortly after surgery, but lordosis was practically restored at final follow-up.