Baptist Health Physicians Among First in City to Use New Artificial Disc

Jacksonville, Florida, August 26, 2008 -- Baptist Health orthopaedic surgeon Michael Scharf, MD , was the first in the city to use the new ProDisc-C Total Disc Replacement for spine surgery. Baptist Health neurosurgeon Javier Garcia-Bengochea, MD, did the second; Dr. Garcia-Bengochea's partner, neurosurgeon Andrew Cannestra, MD, will soon perform the procedure as well.

The ProDisc-C Total Disc Replacement implant, which is composed of top and bottom metal and a plastic inlay, provides the possibility of motion to patients suffering from spine conditions such as herniated disc, spondylosis and radiculopathy. It does this by allowing the top endplate to move over the plastic ball attached to the bottom endplate. Materials used in the implant have been used in spinal disc replacement for more than 20 years in Europe and are commonly used in knee and hip replacements worldwide.

The ProDisc-C is an alternative to anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF), the surgical procedure most commonly done for these spine conditions. In both the ProDisc-C and ACDF, the unhealthy disc is removed and the height at that level of your spine is restored to relieve pressure on the nerves and/or spinal cord. In an ACDF procedure, the bones are fixed in position with implants and bone graft. In some ACDF procedures, the bone graft may come from the patient's hip in a separate incision, which can increase risk for infection and causes pain. The procedure eliminates motion at that level of the spine.

The ProDisc-C does not require a bone graft and potentially allows some motion in the neck. The surgery only requires a small incision in front of the neck to get to the unhealthy disc. On average, patients stay in the hospital for just one or two days.

"The device has zero profile, so that no part of it presses up against the esophagus after implantation," says Dr. Garcia-Bengochea. "This means there may be less swallowing difficulties for patients versus other artificial discs currently on the market or plates used to augment a fusion surgery."

Another benefit is that the ProDisc-C produces less distortion on MRI than other artificial discs. "With the ProDisc-C, it appears that an MRI can be used to evaluate other parts of the cervical spine, which is not the case with other like products," says Dr. Garcia-Bengochea. The U.S. clinical study of the ProDisc-C Total Disc Replacement showed that the device was just as good as fusion surgery in helping to relieve pain and restore normal function, according to Synthes Spine, the manufacturer of ProDisc-C.