Telescopic vertebral body replacement implant for subaxial cervical fusion

Abstract

Objective. To assess the outcomes in patients with disorders of the cervical spine treated by anterior subaxial cervical fu- sion with telescopic vertebral body replacement implant. Material and Methods. The developed design of a telescopic vertebral body replacement implant for anterior interbody fu- sion at the subaxial level is described in details. The effectiveness of the implant was analyzed basing on the outcomes in patients of two groups. In patients of Group 1 (n = 21) the stabilization was carried out with the Mesh implant in con- junction with anterior plate fixation, and in patients of Group 2 (n = 12) – with the vertebral body replacement implant of the telescopic design. Results. The obtained evidence showed the absence of postoperative complications associated with the violation of the op- erated segment stability and the loss of intraoperative correction of the sagittal profile of the cervical spine in patients of Group 2. The achieved correction of the spinal motion segment persisted throughout the entire period of observation. The recurrence of deformation of the anterior wall of the spinal canal causing compression of the epidural space and the spinal cord was not observed. Conclusion. Telescopic systems can be considered the most effective and perfect in restoring the anterior spinal support. They optimize the process of sagittal profile correction by metered changing the distance between the vertebrae adjacent to the rejected one, which is the main advantage of the telescopic systems.

Keywords

• anterior fusion
• telescopic vertebral body replacement implant
• design features