Current Concepts of Cervical Disc Arthroplasty

Area of Science:

• Spine surgery
• Degenerative disc disease treatment
• Cervical spine disorders

Background:

• Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) is a common treatment for radiculopathy and myelopathy due to degenerative disc disease.
• ACDF is associated with a high incidence of adjacent segment disease (ASD).

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the latest clinical data on the efficacy, safety, and complications of cervical disc arthroplasty (CDA) devices.
• To compare long-term outcomes of single-level, multi-level, and hybrid CDA with ACDF.

Main Methods:

• Systematic review of published articles from PubMed, Google Scholar, and Clinical Key.
• Focus on FDA IDE trials and newest cervical disc devices.
• Analysis of clinical data for 1-level, 2-level, and hybrid CDA versus ACDF.

Main Results:

• CDA demonstrates equivalent or improved clinical outcomes compared to ACDF, including better patient-reported neck disability and pain scores.
• CDA shows lower rates of dysphagia, adjacent segment disease (ASD), and reoperation compared to ACDF.
• Multilevel CDA does not increase reoperation rates versus ACDF; hybrid CDA appears safe and reduces ASD risk.

Conclusions:

• Cervical disc arthroplasty (CDA) is effective and safe with low complication rates.
• Current data quality is low, necessitating more hybrid studies.
• CDA may reduce overall postsurgical complications, including ASD and the need for revision surgery.