To take this to an extreme: if you don't revise your fusion to an ADR AND you do, at some future time, end up with adjacent segment damage, you can get those adjacent segments replaced with ADR for a hybrid spine. There's risks of second operations in the c-spine area due to scarring. Laura lost partial function of one iris and has never fully regained it and had a partially paralyzed vocal cord resolve after time; both caused by the surgery for her second Prodisc in her c-spine. Those risks aside, what I'm getting at is that you're not in a position where choosing to not revise your fusion now places you in an irrevocable situation. There are other options available to get you functional in the future.

I wish I could help more on the questions of stem cell injections into the disks. They aren't well vascularized so I don't think that there's many people attempting it but we've been looking exclusively within the US for regenerative injection practitioners. If you're willing to risk COVID and the myriad problems of a vacation in the US, I could point out who we talk with here. For that matter, if you feel your C-spine is hyper-mobile at C4/5 and C6/7, getting standard prolo or PRP in the soft tissue around the spine might help your overall strength training. That hypermobility is what's been the culprit for most of Laura's problems and we've been using prolo to mitigate that problem, poor static stability, while struggling to allow her to regain strength to improve dynamic stability

I am sorry to hear about Laura's case.

Besides my quality of life being at 50% right now (and right now I am not bad at all), what also obsesses me is the perspective of having the whole spine fixed in a long-term future (c4-c5 and c5-c7,.. and so on if degeneration comes to other adjacent disks) with all unconvenients and pains related to this.

Man, I wish I never took that heavy weight in 2020.

Thanks for your wise feedback

I am sorry to hear about Laura's case.

Besides my quality of life being at 50% right now (and right now I am not bad at all), what also obsesses me is the perspective of having the whole spine fixed in a long-term future (c4-c5 and c5-c7,.. and so on if degeneration comes to other adjacent disks) with all unconvenients and pains related to this.

Man, I wish I never took that heavy weight in 2020.

Thanks for your wise feedback

I tore my extensor tendon 75% off the elbow bone. PT took away the pain but did not restore strength. Did one round of PRP, very painful for a week. Pain resolved, but strength did not come back. As said above, tendons, like discs, don't have much blood circulation. But I am told it works great for rotator cuff tear and knees.

Yes and no. I ended up with partial tears to a ligament in back of both hands. Surgery was said to be about 25% successful repair full tears and much less at improving the condition for those with partial tears. It took about a dozen prolotherapy treatments spread over a couple of years to regain full function. That was normal prolo, prior to the days where PRP is the solution of choice.

I also had AC joint shoulder surgery nearly ruined by an overly aggressive physical therapist who had me doing exercises that strained the growing scar tissue needed for the joint to heal correctly. It took about 10 years of intermittent prolotherapy, sometimes using PRP, sometimes not, before I hit the right combination and sequence of prolo and strengthening exercises to regain full function. PRP is a great tool used correctly but it's also snake oil when the practitioner promises the sun, the moon, and the stars with it.

You may have seen this topic:

Spinal Kinetics M6 Failures

https://www.adrsupport.org/forums/sh...ad.php?t=14153

Thanks Harrison

It is clear that M6 has had many failures but it is also fair to say it is the most implemented 3rd generation replacement, and % of failures is proportional to the number of total implementations.

Anyway, in your opinion, and assuming the surgeon is competent enough, which is the best replacement for cervical disks? ESP? Axiomed? Why?

So you are asking a very important question, but it might be the wrong question. Maybe you should be asking yourself "what is the right disc for me"? You will see many, many failures and malfunctions/ migration of Mobi C on the facebook ADR groups. I speculate that it needs perfect placement and isn't too forgiving. Texas Back does M6 but now is pushing Simplify. They claim Simplify is great because it allows imaging without distortion. But aren't we all hoping that after surgery, we live life without endless imaging. Imaging ability makes life easier for the doctors.

I have read some medical journal articles about the M6 failures and posted here. But if there are many such failures as you say, please post copies or references to your recent sources for this position. I am trying to distinguish among poor patient selection, poor placement, vs something actually wrong with the manufacture of the M6.

I didn't state any M6 failure but Harrison, and of course I agree surgeon expertise is a also a key factor.

I echo that Phillie
 

If he just cared about the money, he would do whatever. Dr. Clavel is and was still a wonderful surgeon and human being. He has always been there for me post-op! I have an M6-C and an ESP-C, and doing great now. My M-6 did not fail, I developed HO behind it was the only reason I had to have a revision. Dr. Schmitz in Germany happen to be the best for the job at the time during Covid at it worst, Spain had shut down their borders and Germany was allowing Medical travel. Dr. Clavel is right about the ESP may not be right for you. It has a curved plate and since it's not as flat as the M6 it may not fit well in your disc space.