European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society
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To evaluate the trends and patterns of cervical degenerative disc disease in the cervical spine in different age groups of symptomatic patients. ⋯ This study evaluated the severity and pattern of cervical disc degeneration at each level in different age groups. The severity and number of degenerated levels increased significantly with increased age. Adjacent-level degeneration is more common than skip lesions in patients with more than one-level degeneration.
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The purpose of this study was to investigate reasons and their frequency for why spine surgeons subspecializing in total disc replacement (TDR) performed lumbar fusion rather than TDR. ⋯ The most common reason for not performing lumbar TDR was related to anatomic factors that may compromise stability of the operated segment and/or TDR functionality. The older age of fusion patients may be related to these factors. This study found that many patients are appropriate candidates for lumbar TDR. However, even among TDR subspecialists, fusion is preferred when there are factors that cannot be addressed with TDR and/or may compromise implant functionality.