Thx winecaptain. A few comments from the peanut gallery:
- both designs are "proven," though the ProDisc has been implanted in cervical patients all over the planet.
- cleated designs like the ones employed with Discover remove less bone, are less injurious/involve less blood loss and are far easier to revise in the event of any complications post-operatively. Accordingly, the risk for heterotopic ossification with cleated design is lessened. This has been known among doctors and patients for many years.
I can't provide clinical data, but my observation is that HO occurs more frequently with keeled designs, including the Prodisc and even the Spinal Kinetics M6. We have seen this many times on this community; certainly not all cases are mentioned here. There have been a number of revision surgeries with ProDisc and the M6 this year, but some patients are reluctant to post these outcomes here.
Public Service Announcement: People, please post if you have complications! It will help many others in so many ways.
Frankly, WC, the majority of spine patients with cervical issues do well with fusion or most
modern disc replacements.
