Joint replacement is a logical step in the treatment of severe joint pathologies with irreversible lesions resisting conservative therapy. At the spinal level, arthrodesis became, very early, the gold standard of treatment for severe intervertebral disc pathologies. The next logical step was to envision functional replacement, and this step was taken as early as 1956, when the first intervertebral implant was described. However, it took many more years and a great variety of proposed implant designs before clinical applications could be attempted.

Arthroplasty of the spine: the long quest for mobility

Spine arthroplasty: a historical review
Non-fusion technology in degenerative lumbar spinal disorders: facts, questions, challenges
Cervical motion segment replacement
History, design and biomechanics of the LINK SB Charité artificial disc
Artificial disc: preliminary results of a prospective study in the United States
Optimal minimally traumatic approach for the SB Charité(TM) Artificial Disc
Maverick total lumbar disk prosthesis: biomechanics and preliminary clinical results
Total disc replacement arthroplasty using the AcroFlex lumbar disc: a non-human primate model
Minimally invasive total disc replacement: surgical technique and preliminary clinical results
Indications for full prosthetic disc arthroplasty: a correlation of clinical outcome against a variety of indications
The PDN® prosthetic disc-nucleus device
Surgical and clinical results with the PDN® prosthetic disc-nucleus device
A spiral implant as nucleus prosthesis in the lumbar spine
Nucleus prosthesis: a new concept
Graf ligamentoplasty: a 7-year follow-up
Mechanical supplementation by non-rigid fixation in degenerative intervertebral lumbar segments: the Wallis system
The dynamic neutralization system for the spine: a multi-center study of a novel non-fusion system
The objectives for the mechanical evaluation of spinal instrumentation have changed
Development and preclinical testing of a new tension-band device for the spine: the Loop system
Elastic stabilization alone or combined with rigid fusion in spinal surgery: a biomechanical study and clinical experience based on 82 cases
Rationale, principles and experimental evaluation of the concept of soft stabilization
A potential role for cell-basedtherapeutics in the treatment of intervertebral disc herniation
A biological approach to treating disc degeneration: not for today, but maybe for tomorrow.