First Cervical Disc Replacement Surgery with ProDisc-C

Michael E. Janssen, DO, a Denver surgeon and a Spine-health.com Member, became the first physician in the United States to perform two cervical disc arthroplasties using the ProDisc-C Total Disc Replacement System. The ProDisc is designed to treat patients suffering from cervical disc degeneration and disc herniation, which occurs when natural shock absorbers in the cervical spine become worn and start to degenerate, often resulting in pain, discomfort, and impaired cervical mobility creating neck and upper arm pain.

One of the patients was an active 35 year old male with cervical disc degeneration that developed as a result of a traumatic hockey injury, causing pain, stiffness, and numbness in his left-hand. The second patient was a 53 year old female accountant who had been suffering with neck and upper extremity pain from a disc herniation compressing her spinal cord.

Both surgeries were performed on January 16, 2008, and both patients pre-operative symptoms were gone the following day. The patients were discharged from the surgery center on January 17, 2008 with minimal pain.

The full story is available here.

Additional resources:

• Cervical Degenerative Disc Disease
• Cervical Herniated Disc Symptoms and Treatment
• Summary of Cervical Herniated Disc Treatment Options
• Total Disc Replacement Back Surgery Video