New Option to Treat DDD: Cervical Artificial Disc Helping Patients Ease Pain and Maintain Mobility

Billings, Montana, April 24, 2008 – Every year more than 200,000 patients receive surgical treatment for cervical degenerative disc disease.  Patients with DDD experience neck pain, arm pain numbness, tingling, and/or weakness from a pinched nerve in the neck related to a herniated disc.  Until now, traditional spinal fusion was the answer to that pain, but it also meant restricted neck motion.  With a new cervical artificial disc, Neurosurgeons with Northern Rockies Neurosurgeons have helped patients at St. Vincent Healthcare to not only eliminate the pain from DDD, but also help them keep their range of motion in their neck.

The new artificial disc, called the PRESTIGE® Cervical Disc, is inserted into the neck using a similar procedure to the technique surgeons use when performing a spinal fusion. The PRESTIGE Cervical Disc, used in a procedure called cervical disc arthroplasty, showed superior neurological and overall success outcomes in a recently concluded clinical trial that compared the clinical outcomes of cervical artificial disc replacement (PRESTIGE Cervical Disc) to anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (spinal fusion) procedures. It is the first artificial disc approved for the cervical spine by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and could revolutionize treatment options for surgical patients who normally would have only the option of a motion-restricting spinal fusion.

Additional information is available at www.necksurgery.com and at www.prestigedisc.com.

All of the Neurosurgeons with Northern Rockies Neurosurgeons perform this procedure.  They can be contacted at 237-5760.
Michael L. Copeland, MD, PhD
Stewart G. Goodman, MD
Yves. J. Meyer, MD
Robert E. Replogle, MD
Lashman W. Soriya, MD, FACS, FICS