Complications of Cervical Disc Arthroplasty

To date, reported complications with cervical disc replacements have not been numerous. However, the clinical experience is still limited both from the perspective of number of cases and duration of follow-up. As a consequence, likely failure is also contemplated in this article. There are a number of absolute and relative contra-indications for artificial disc surgery in the cervical spine. The intraoperative risks are not terribly different from those known from anterior discectomy and fusion. Malpositioning of the prosthesis may be due to procedure-related or surgeon-related problems and might lead to short-term or long-term failures. Early postoperative displacement may be avoided by initial bone-interplant interface stability. Besides other factors, intermediate term postoperative loss of motion may be due to the development of paravertebral ossification, an issue that still needs more investigation. From a theoretical viewpoint, long term wear debris formation might lead to loosening of the prosthesis; however, no corresponding case reports have been reported yet.