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Garrick W. Cason, MD1; Harry N. Herkowitz, MD2

Symptomatic adjacent-level disease after cervical fusion has led to the development and testing of several disc-replacement prostheses.

Randomized controlled trials of cervical disc replacement (CDR) compared with anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) have demonstrated at least equivalent clinical results for CDR with similar or lower complication rates.

Biomechanical, kinematic, and radiographic studies of CDR reveal that the surgical level and adjacent vertebral level motion and center of rotation more closely mimic the native state.

Lower intradiscal pressures adjacent to CDR may help decrease the incidence of adjacent spinal-level disease, but long-term follow-up is necessary to evaluate this theory.