For patient’s suffering from degenerative disc disease in the lumbar spine – surgical treatment options are either a lumbar spinal fusion or an artifical lumbar disc replacement.  The artifical lumbar disc has recently been approved by the FDA.

 

To review a study that I co-authored, Propsective, randomized trial of metal-on-metal artifical lumbar disc replacement:  Initial results for treatment of discogenic pain, which reviewed the spine surgery outcomes between lumbar artifical disc and spinal fusion – click here.

The overall purpose of this study was to compare the surgical outcomes of a FlexiCore lumbar disc replacement compared to a standard spinal fusion.  Patients treated had single level degenerative disc disease and had undergone six months of conservative medical management but still had lower back pain which was incapacitating. 

 

Conservative minimially invasive treatment options for degenerative disc disease can include epidural injections, physical therapy, acupuncture and spinal manipulation (chiropractic care).  The goal of these treatments is to minimize and/or eliminate the lower back pain that is caused by degenerative disc disease.

 

This study concluded that lumbar artifical disc replacement, with the FlexiCore metal-on-metal intervertebral disc prosthesis, compared favorably with the spinal fusion - which is the current standard back surgery treatment option for degenerative disc disease.