Cervical Arthroplasty

Technological advances have allowed spine surgery to follow the trend toward minimally invasive surgery in general. Specifically, we have seen a corresponding rise in the popularity of cervical arthroplasty. For the treatment of cervical disc disease, arthroplasty is a less invasive option than the gold standard of cervical discectomy and arthrodesis, which by nature is more disruptive to surrounding tissues. Arthroplasty preserves the facets, maintains motion, and reduces the rate of adjacent segment breakdown. These factors counteract the negative impacts of fusion while maintaining the benefits. Arthroplasty implants themselves have become more streamlined to implant as well with less native bone destruction, and biomechanics more compatible with the native disc. While initial implants were ball and socket devices with complex fixation and plane-specific movements, later devices incorporated such motions as translation and compression. Viscoelastic components and materials more closely resembling native tissues afford a more biocompatible implant profile. Until cell-based therapies can successfully reproduce native tissue, we will rely on artificial components that closely resemble and assimilate them