With 25 years since disc replacement was debuted in the U.S., Scott Blumenthal, MD, is looking forward to new opportunities ahead.
Dr. Blumenthal of Texas Back Institute in Plano, has made important strides in disc replacement’s U.S. foothold, and this year he’s led key research finding low revision rates in cervical and lumbar spinal arthroplasty.
He discussed the next phases of growth for disc replacement during an upcoming episode of the “Becker’s Spine and Orthopedic Podcast.”
Note: This is an edited excerpt.
Question: Where do you see the best opportunities for growth in 2026?
Dr. Scott Blumenthal: What we’re going to see is continued expansion of indications for motion preservation. I think a lot of it is patient-driven, and they try to look for an alternative to fusion. They’ve all had a negative story about someone or someone in their family with a fusion, and they are always asking for an alternative. With the data that we have for both cervical and lumbar disc replacement, it’s pretty favorable.
Q: What are some disc replacement indications that might be underutilized right now?
SB: We originally thought that in the cervical spine, disc replacement was for younger patients and fusions were for older patients. As we’ve gained more experience, both in the U.S. and outside, we have found that we can increase the age for patients to get disc replacements. [For] more arthritic spines and spines that may have lost the normal curvature in the cervical spine, that’s helped a lot of our older patients into their 60s and 70s.
