• Peter Khong, Nikolai Bogduk, Ali Ghahreman, and Mark Davies.
• St George Public Hospital, Gray Street, Kogarah, NSW 2217, Australia. Electronic address: petekhong@yahoo.com.
• J Clin Neurosci. 2013 Oct 1;20(10):1411-6.

AbstractThe concept of cervical disc arthroplasty (CDA) for the anterior treatment of cervical pathology has existed for approximately half a decade. In this time, multiple devices have been developed for this purpose, with the ultimate aim to provide an alternative to fusion. Fifty-five patients with cervical spondylotic radiculopathy and myelopathy underwent CDA over a 5 year period. Data was collected on 46 patients, which included Visual Analogue Scale scores for neck pain and arm pain, Neck Disability Index scores, Short Form-36 v2 (SF-36) and Nurick grades for myelopathy patients. Preoperative data and data obtained at the latest clinical follow-up (median 48 months, range, 10-76 months) were analysed to assess the intermediate term efficacy of the procedure. In patients with radiculopathy, arm pain improved by 88% (p<0.001). In those presenting with myelopathy, the Nurick grades improved from a median of 1 to 0 (p<0.001). In both groups of patients, improvements in pain and neurologic deficit were accompanied by significant improvements in multiple domains of the SF-36. Using a composite system which considered neck pain, arm pain, function and myelopathy, we arrived at an overall success rate of 73%. We concluded that CDA is an effective intervention for improving neurologic deficit, arm pain and local neck symptoms that translated into improvements in physical and social functioning in the intermediate term.Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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