Cervical
Procedures in San Francisco CA

Total Cervical Disc Replacement (TDR)

We have been using total cervical disc replacement (TDR) at St. Mary’s for a number of years. We have been one of the investigational sites as part of the IDE trials for a number of TDR surgeries prior to their approval for widespread clinical use. Currently, we favor ProDisc-C and LDR cervical disc replacement both for single-level and multilevel implantation.

The main premise of TDR in the cervical spine is (1) preserving natural motion in the cervical spine, and (2) minimizing or avoiding adjacent-segment degeneration. Additionally, several clinical studies have demonstrated decreased chance of reoperation. At the present time, total cervical disc replacement has emerged as a “gold standard” for treatment of a number of degenerative spine disorders. TDR is used in addition to anterior cervical discectomy and fusion, and in some cases the same patient will undergo total cervical disc replacement at one level and anterior cervical discectomy and fusion at another level to create a so-called hybrid construct.

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