Artificial Disc Replacement

Dr. Scott Blumenthal was the first Orthopedic Spine Surgeon in the US to perform an Artificial Disc Replacement (ADR) surgery. This life changing surgery has now helped over 1,400 Texas Back Institute patients. Recently SpineUniverse.com featured a blog post about the history of artificial disc replacement.

The History of Artificial Disc Replacement

How Long Has This Spine Procedure Been Used?

          Submitted by Scott L. Blumenthal, MD on September 10th, 2012

Artificial disc replacement (ADR) or total disc  replacement (TDR) is a surgical procedure which replaces a degenerated disc in  the spinal column with an artificial motion device. It has been used in the  United States since the year 2000, but it originated in Europe almost 30 years  ago.

Before performing the first ADR in the United  States in March 2000, I did a lot of research on the procedure, including  visiting with a number of surgeons in Europe as well as the inventor of the  first FDA-approved ADR, Karin Buttner-Janz. Besides inventing the artificial  disc, she is well-known for being an Olympic and world champion gymnast from  East Germany.

With 12 years of experience, we have now  performed more than 1,400 disc replacements in our private practice alone.  Patients now have access to spine surgeons with extensive experience in disc replacement right here in the in the United  States.

Total disc replacement is an alternative to  spinal fusion. It is an innovative process of surgically removing a damaged  disc from the spinal column and replacing it with an artificial disc. This procedure can significantly benefit patients who suffer from herniated discs or degenerative disc disease with or without leg or arm pain.

Artificial disc replacement gives patients an opportunity to retain  mobility in both the neck (cervical spine) and lower back (lumbar spine). By  replicating the movement of a normal disc, ADR helps to alleviate adjacent disc  degeneration minimizing the need for additional spine surgery due to disc  degeneration or herniation.

Since 2000, a number of FDA studies of other  artificial discs began enrolling patients in the United States. Over a dozen  studies have been completed in the United States and currently there are four  discs approved for use in the United States.

The FDA-approved disc available for the low back  (lumbar spine) is the ProDisc-L.  For the  neck (cervical spine), the Bryan, Prestige, and ProDisc-C are available.

Looking forward to the future of artificial discs  in America: at least a dozen or so discs are either currently in-trial or have  completed the trials for FDA approval and will hopefully be available in the US  soon.

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