Lumbar Disc Replacement

Lumbar disc replacement surgery substitutes an artificial disc made of metal and plastic for a painful degenerated disc in the lower back. This is a major surgery requiring general anesthesia and a hospital stay.

Your doctor might recommend lumbar disc replacement surgery if most of your back pain comes from one or two discs in your lower back. The best candidates aren’t excessively overweight, don’t have scoliosis or significant compression on spinal nerves and haven’t had previous spinal surgeries.

recovery

Since this surgery doesn’t require bone grafts like in a spinal fusion, recovery may be faster. But patients will still need to take it easy for a while. They might need pain medication. Usually the hospital staff encourage the patient to stand and start moving around within a day of surgery. A physical therapist teaches the patient gentle trunk twists and other exercises. Jarring motions are prohibited for at least a few weeks as the surgical area heals.

risks

While the lumbar disc replacement usually reduces pain, patients shouldn’t expect to completely eliminate it. And sometimes the implants go wrong. The artificial disc may break, loosen, dislodge or develop an infection in the surrounding area. The spine may feel stiff or rigid. If the patient’s activities are limited for too long, blood clots could develop in the legs.

The prodisc L device is composed of three pieces—two end plates composed of cobalt chromium and titanium, and a polyethylene core that allows the device to restore normal range of motion at the operated level. Patients can go home quickly after surgery and are encouraged to resume to their normal activities after a recommended post-operative protocol that is generally much shorter than for spinal fusion surgery.

The prodisc L technology is the most studied and clinically-proven total disc replacement system in the world. Beginning with clinical usage in 1990, the prodisc design has been validated with over 225,000 device implantations worldwide and more than 540 published papers. prodisc L has been shown to facilitate a quicker return to active life. It has also been shown to enable patients to retain their range of motion, enabling the spine to flex over the long-term.

Lumbar Disc Replacement

recovery

risks

San Diego Disc Replacement Center