Arthroplasty of the Spine

Joint replacement is a logical step in the treatment of severe joint pathologies with irreversible lesions resisting conservative therapy. At the spinal level, arthrodesis became, very early, the gold standard of treatment for severe intervertebral disc pathologies. The next logical step was to envision functional replacement, and this step was taken as early as 1956, when the first intervertebral implant was described. However, it took many more years and a great variety of proposed implant designs before clinical applications could be attempted.

Arthroplasty of the spine: the long quest for mobility. Spine arthroplasty: a historical review. Non-fusion technology in degenerative lumbar spinal disorders. Cervical motion segment replacement. History, design and biomechanics of the LINK SB Charite artificial disc. Artificial disc: preliminary results of a prospective study in the US. Optimal minimally traumatic approach for the SB Charite artificial disc. Maverick total lumbar disk prosthesis. Total disc replacement arthroplasty using the AcroFlex lumbar disc: a non-human primate model. Minimally invasive total disc replacement: surgical technique and preliminary clinical results. Indications for full prosthetic disc arthroplasty: a correlation of clinical outcome against a variety of indications. The PDN prosthetic disc-nucleus device. Surgical and clinical results with the PDN prosthetic disc-nucleus device. A spiral implant as nucleus prosthesis in the lumbar spine. Nucleus prosthesis: a new concept. Graf ligamentoplasty: a 7-year follow-up. Mechanical supplementation by non-rigid fixation in degenerative intervertebral lumbar segments: the Wallis system. The dynamic neutralization system for the spine: a multi-center study of a novel non-fusion system. The objectives for the mechanical evaluation of spinal instrumentation have changed. Development and preclinical testing of a new tension-band device for the spine: the Loop system. Elastic stabilization alone or combined with rigid fusion in spinal surgery: a biomechanical study and clinical experience based on 82 cases. Rationale, principles and experimental evaluation of the concept of soft stabilization. A potential role for cell-based therapeutics in the treatment of intervertebral disc herniation. A biological approach to treating disc degeneration: not for today, but maybe for tomorrow.