The study authors examined 32 patients who underwent disc replacements for adjacent segment disease between January 2004 and January 2011. The adjacent segment disease occurred at the fusion site for 22 patients and below the fusion site for 10 patients. The study authors found:
1. All surgeries were successful and reported improvements in the neck and upper limb visual analog scale, Japanese Orthopedic Association score and neck disability scores after the disc replacement.
2. The prosthesis positioning was satisfactory in the follow-up visits and there weren’t any reports of disc migration or downward movement.
3. The range of motion in the replaced segments was 8.5±2.2 and the range of motion for the adjacent segments was 7.2±2.6 after surgery.
4. Two patients reported grade II heterotopic ossification and three patients reported aggravated degeneration at the last follow up compared with the preoperative adjacent unfused segment.
5. The Goffin grade wasn’t statistically significant.
“Our follow-up shows that ACDR is an effective treatment for post-ACDF ASD,” concluded the study authors. “It can maintain the ROMs of the replaced segment as well as the adjacent unfused segment.”
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