[Longterm results of cervical arthroplasty with disc prosthesis. A literature review]

Cervical arthroplasty has now been performed for over 10 years. Despite the large number of implanted artificial discs, the quality of the published studies is weak, and very few report a follow up exceeding two years. We reviewed the literature on cervical total disc replacement, focusing on publications reporting a follow-up of more than two years. The selection of patients, the type of implant and the surgical technique seem to influence greatly the quality of the clinical and radiological results. The occurrence of heterotopic ossifications around the implant seems to be the rule rather than the exception. Wear debris are likely to be observed in the vicinity of the prosthesis. Most long term studies also report a progressive decrease in the range of motion of the prosthesis, although without influence on the clinical evolution. It seems reasonable to say that cervical disc prosthesis is not inferior to discectomy and fusion, and that these implants allow a short term preservation of cervical mobility, but the efficacy in preventing adjacent segment disease or a favourable costleffectiveness ratio have yet to be demonstrated. A more widespread use of cervical disc prosthesis can only be suggested when these questions have been answered by long term follow-up studies.