The cervical spine has discs between each bone that provide cushioning for movements and body loads. The discs and bones in a healthy neck allow bending from side-to-side and front-to-back, and turning left-to-right. Disc problems can start from over-use, an accident, or just the wear and tear of daily life. Degenerative changes in the discs may result in damage that can cause pain. When a disc degenerates it can have tears or cracks that lose water, which cause it to become thinner and provide less padding to absorb movement. Degenerated discs can also bulge (herniate) and pinch the spinal cord or nerves, which causes loss of feeling, weakness, pain, or tingling down the arms and hands.
About Treatment Options
Before artificial discs were available, patients would traditionally receive an Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion (ACDF) procedure to alleviate the pain from a herniated disc. In a fusion surgery, the disc is removed and either a bone spacer or a plastic implant will be placed in the disc space to restore disc height and remove pressure on the pinched nerves or spinal cord. A metal plate and screws can be placed on the front of the neck to hold the implant in place. The result of this procedure will be a segment that no longer moves, or is “fused”. The potential downside of a fusion procedure, in addition to the loss of motion, is that it can create additional stress on the spinal levels above and below it. This can cause degeneration at those levels and potentially result in another future surgery.
What is Mobi-C
- Mobi-C is the first cervical disc in the U.S. approved to treat more than one level of the cervical spine. It received FDA approval for one and two-level indications in August 2013.
- Mobi-C demonstrated statistical superiority compared to cervical spine fusion in overall study success when used in two-level patients at 5 years.
- Mobi-C has been implanted more than 40,000 times in 25 countries around the world since 2004.
- Mobi-C is differentiated from other cervical discs because of its bone sparing technique, which eliminates the need for bone chiseling and drilling, and optimizes it for two-level implantations.
- The patented mobile core allows the Mobi-C to angulate and slide in multiple directions similar to natural cervical motion.
- The greatest clinical benefit of cervical disc replacement with Mobi-C compared to cervical fusion was seen in two-level indications, particularly in lower reoperation rates, lower rates of major complications, lower rates of adjacent level degeneration, and higher NDI success rates.
- In the Mobi-C clinical study, patients returned to work on average one week faster (one-level patients) and three weeks faster (two-level patients) compared to fusion patients.
How can Mobi-C artificial disc provide additional benefits for patients?
- An artificial disc like Mobi-C is an option instead of a fusion that will also be placed inside the disc space to restore height and remove pressure on the pinched nerves.
- The Mobi-C device is designed to allow the neck to maintain normal motion.
- The Mobi-C potentially prevents the adjacent levels from degenerating, possibly preventing future surgeries
