A new study published in Spine examines the outcomes for patients who underwent single level lumbar disc replacement with the Charite artificial disc from DePuy Spine.
The study examined clinical and radiographic data for the first lumbar artificial disc replacement in 122 patients. The average follow-up was around 45 months and the average patient was 43 years old at the time of surgery. Study authors found:
1. Most patients — 96.7 percent — were diagnosed with degenerative disc disease; the remaining patients were diagnosed with internal disc disruption. Around 78 percent of the patients had surgery at L5-S1 and another 22 percent had surgery at L4-5.
2. The patients reported statistically significant clinical improvements over the baseline for the Visual Analog Scale back and leg scores, Oswestry Disability Index, SF-36 PCS, SF-36 MCS and Roland-Morris Questionnaires from three months postoperatively.
3. The results include:
• Decreased VAS scores from 78.2 to 21.9
• Decreased ODI scores from 51.1 to 16.2
• Decreased RMDQ scores from 16.7 to 4.2
• Increased SF-36 PCS scores from 25.7 to 46.4
• Increased PCS scores from 35.5 to 51.6
4. Almost all — 90.5 percent — of the patients rated satisfaction scores as "good" or "excellent" at their two-year follow-up.
5. At the last follow-up, patients reported 8.6 degrees average range of motion.
"Outcomes verify the clinical efficacy of total disc replacement for treatment of discogenic back pain with or without radiculopathy," concluded study authors. "The outcomes instruments demonstrated statistically significant improvements three months onward."