在刚刚结束的第6届COA国际学术大会上，上海长征医院骨科的陈宇博士报道了Discover人工颈椎间盘置换的相关研究，他们对116例单节段病变的患者进行了至少1年的随访，应用他们自行研制的装置测量颈椎在6个方向和3个面上的整体活动度，结果发现术后颈椎屈伸以及侧屈的活动度均明显增加（3-4.5度），矢状面、冠状面上的整体活动度明显改善（7.7-9.7度）。陈宇博士指出，他们研制的这一装置用于评价颈椎的整体活动度方便快捷，并证实Discover人工颈椎间盘置换可使患者获得良好的功能。
以下为论文摘要：
Single-level DISCOVER cervical artificial disc replacement improves total neck motion
Yu Chen, Wen Yuan, Xiaodong Wu, Huajiang Chen, Yang Liu, Qizhi Sun
Shanghai Changzheng Hospital Spinal Surgery
Background Cervical artificial disc replacement (CADR) is widely used in treating cervical spondylosis to retain segmental motion. Cervical range of motion(CROM) in the sagittal plane based on anteroposterior and lateral films has been the major instrument to evaluate improvement in total neck motion after CADR. However, coronal and horizontal plane CROM cannot be observed by anteroposterior and lateral films, so total neck motion cannot be fully evaluated with current methods.
Method 116 patients underwent single-level Discover CADR. CROM was measured by the device before surgery and at 1-year follow-up. The pre- and postoperative data were compared to each other using paried t-test.
Results Compared with preoperative CROM, postoperative CROM increased on average by 4.5 degrees (10.4%) in flexion, 4.2 degrees (9%) in extension, 3 degrees (7.0%) in left lateral extension and 3.6 degrees (8.3%) in right lateral extension. There was no statistically significant change in post-operative CROM in left and right rotation. Postoperative CROM also increased by 8.7 degrees (9.7%) in the sagittal plane and 6.6 degrees (7.7%) in the coronal plane. There was no post-operative change in CROM in the horizontal plane.
Conclusions Our cervical device can more quickly and fully evaluate CROM in six directions and three planes and provides a large improvement in assessing cervical motion over traditional methods. Discover CADR improves cervical motion and most patients have no difficulty in achieving the daily functional task at one year after undergoing Discover CADR.
