Our Specialties Include
- Spinal and Orthopaedic Surgery
- Brain / Neurosurgery
- Intracranial Disease Alternatives
- Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery
- Pain Management Services
- Joint Replacement
- Gender Knee Replacements
- Artificial Disc Replacement
- Kyphoplasty
- Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Programs
- Sports Medicine Specialists
Cervical Degenerative Disc Disease Treatment in Louisiana
Spine Treatment for Covington, Slidell, & Mandeville
The spine is one of the body’s most important structures. It gives you support and allows you to move and bend freely. Without it, you could not sit or stand up.
Spinal Cord Anatomy
The spine, also known as the vertebral column, is made up of 24 small bones known as vertebrae. They are arranged in a column, stacked one on top of the other. The vertebrae protect and support the spinal cord, which houses many nerves.
Your spine has three main parts: the neck or cervical area, the central or thoracic area, and the lower back or lumbar area. Soft discs between each bone allow your back to move and bend. These spinal discs in the vertebral column help align the vertebrae and give flexibility to the spine by forming cartilaginous joints.
When the discs wear out or are injured, they cannot function normally and may cause pain or limit your daily activities. This can produce a condition that is called Degenerative Disc Disease (DDD). Surgery may sometimes help to reduce this pain and restore some level of activity.
Symptoms of Degenerative Disc Disease
Degenerative disc disease can cause neck pain (stiff neck), lower back pain, pinched nerves causing leg pain, and difficulty sitting down.
Surgical Options for Degenerative Disc Disease
If conservative treatments such as pain medication or physical therapy have not alleviated pain from Degenerative Disc Disease, there are two surgical procedures that may help to reduce your pain and restore activity:
- Spinal Fusion – spondylosyndesis; combining two or more vertebrae
- Disc Replacement – replacing a damaged disc, similar to hip or knee replacement
During a spinal fusion surgery, the surgeon will remove the disc and pack bone graft into the space between the two vertebrae along the back of the vertebrae. As the spine heals, the bone graft helps to create a solid bony bridge across the disc space connecting the two vertebrae. During disc replacement surgery, the surgeon will remove the disc and replace it with an artificial disc. Disc replacement surgery is relatively new, and has benefits over spinal fusion.
Benefits of Disc Replacement Surgery
There are many potential benefits of disc replacement surgery with an artificial disc over traditional spinal fusion surgery. Laboratory testing shows that the artificial disc design allows your spine to move. In the clinical study, patients were observed to have motion between 0 and 21 degrees in flexion / extension (bending forwards and backwards). When a fusion surgery is performed, although your pain symptoms may go away, the vertebrae surrounding the disc space are immobilized.
Another benefit to disc replacement surgery is that no bone graft is required. Often times with spinal fusion surgery, the bone graft used to pack the disc space is bone that the surgeon has taken from the patient’s hip. This means that the patient has two incisions that must heal as well as pain in the hip and back during recovery from surgery.
Candidates for An Artificial Disc
Artificial discs are seen as an alternative to spinal fusion for patients that have one diseased disc (Degenerative Disc Disease) between L4 and L5 or between L5 and S1. Degenerative Disc Disease is a disc that has worn out or become injured and causes back pain. History and x-rays confirm the disc deterioration. Patients with DDD whose vertebrae (bones) have moved no more than 3mm (0.12in) may still receive an artificial disc. Patients receiving an artificial disc should have failed at least six months of treatment such as pain medication or physical therapy.
Who Should Not Receive Artificial Disc Replacements
Artifical discs should not be used if:
- You have either an infection throughout your body or localized to your spine
- You have disc deterioration or instability at more than one spinal level
- You have osteoporosis or osteopenia
Your occupation or activity levels, your weight, the condition of other levels of your spine, whether or not you are pregnant, and any allergies you have may influence whether or not you should have artificial disc replacement surgery. If any of these factors apply to you, please discuss them with your doctor.
What to Expect After Surgery
After your artificial disc surgery, it is important that you follow your surgeon’s instructions for recovery. Make sure you get and keep your surgeon’s name and telephone number.
In most cases, immediately after surgery, your heart & lung function will continue to be monitored, and your doctor will prescribe medicines to control pain and nausea.
Last Modified: December 28, 2010