Disc Replacement in the US
Disc Replacement surgery options in the US are limited by the FDA and Insurance carriers.
This means that patients who may be candidates for disc replacement from a medical point of view are often not offered a disc replacement surgery option.
These patients are offered fusion surgery or are treated with less effective micro discectomy and laminectomy, sometimes called laser spine surgery.
The most common exclusion is that most disc replacement implants are limited by the FDA to one level surgeries. This means that if you have more than one bad disc your surgeon can not offer disc replacement. This is only an FDA issue, disc replacement surgery is regularly done on patients requiring more than one disc replaced outside the US.
Even if you are offered a disc replacement surgery the surgeon is limited to outdated disc replacement implants known to have high complication rates. Learn about Disc Replacement Options here.
Unlike early Disc Replacement designs, the Spinal Kinetics M6 cervical artificial disc is designed to replicate the structure and performance of a natural disc. Its innovative design incorporates an artificial nucleus to allow shock absorption and a woven fiber annulus for graded variable motion resistance in all directions.
These characteristics accurately replicate the natural disc, allowing the implant to work in concert with the remaining human discs. Unlike earlier "ball-in-socket" implants, with the M6 disc replacement the resulting natural functionality of the entire spinal curve will provide the best chance for a full recovery. In addition, future complications will be eliminated by reducing adjacent level degeneration and strain on the muscles and ligaments.
Spinal Kinetics announces completion of 25,000 M6 Artificial Spinal Disc Implants
November 30, 2013 - Spinal Kinetics reached completion of its 25,000th M6 Artificial Disc Replacement implant.
Dr. Karsten Ritter-Lang has placed over 6,000 ADR implants and was the first to implant the Spinal Kinetics M6 disc replacement.
This "Quality of Motion" is a major patient benefit not available in any other implant!
