Past, Present, and Future of Cervical Disc Arthroplasty

Abstract

T he cervical spine is a sophisticated biomechanical structure that provides for mobility while maintaining horizontal gaze. Unfortunately, due to pathology such as degeneration, trauma, and infection, there is a significant disease burden of the cervical spine resulting in conditions such as radiculopathy and myelopathy. 1,2 In the degenerative population, cervical spine surgery is an option for patients who have exhausted nonoperative management efforts or have progressive neurologic deficits. Over the last century, anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) has been shown to be an effective operation for pathologic conditions due to the ability to decompress the neural elements and stabilize the spine at the surgical site. 3 This is following the natural history of cervical degener-