Challenging the state of the art

The recent clinical article, “Replacement compared with anterior discectomy and fusion for treatment of 2-level symptomatic degenerative disc disease: a prospective, randomized, controlled, multicenter investigational device exemption clinical trial”, offers a compelling and comprehensive clinical overview comparing cervical total disc replacement with isolated cervical fusion at 5 years follow up. Moreover, the study identified a patient population challenged by 2 contiguous levels of unresponsive degenerative change, and sustained clinical oversight and data collection over that time.