Charlotte Neurosurgeon Is First In The Carolinas To Utilize Artificial Disc Device For Treatment of Ruptured Disc

An innovative new surgical procedure utilizing an artificial disc to treat degenerative disc disease (ruptured disc) was performed for the first time in North Carolina or South Carolina by Dom Coric, M.D., a neurosurgeon with Carolina Neurosurgery & Spine Associates in Charlotte.

Dr. Coric, led a surgical team, including Dr. Tim Adamson, at Carolinas Medical Center in the implantation of the BRYAN® Cervical Disc prosthesis into a 43 year-old woman at the C5-6 level. The procedure, which took approximately two hours, went extremely well, and the patient was discharged from the hospital the following day.

The procedure is part of a national clinical trial underway at Carolina Neurosurgery & Spine to determine the effectiveness of the Bryan artificial disc in treating ruptured cervical discs or degenerative disc disease. The artificial disc was designed to provide the motion and elastic characteristics of the natural cervical disc. Carolina Neurosurgery & Spine Associates is the only group in the region, and one of only 21 sites in the United States, participating in the Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) clinical study. Data from this study will be used in support of a future approval by the FDA for use in the US.

“We are proud to be involved in the first and only procedure of it’s kind in North Carolina,” said Dr. Coric, “This device may become standard practice in the future if this study shows that the potential patient benefits of the artificial disc exceed those of the current anterior cervical fusion procedure.”

Currently, the most common form of surgery for treating degenerative disc disease in the neck is cervical disc removal followed by fusion, utilizing bone from the patient’s hip or a bone bank, with various types of metallic instrumentation. With this procedure, patients’ symptoms are relieved, but the fused vertebrae can limit neck movement and may put additional stress on the discs above and below the fusion.

The BRYAN Cervical Disc System is designed to maintain the surgical benefits of an anterior approach to the spine. However, unlike fusion, the damaged disc is replaced with a prosthesis, which is designed to allow for motion at the treated level. The implant incorporates an elastic nucleus to theoretically provide shock absorption similar to the natural disc.

“This is a groundbreaking study,” said Dr. Coric. “One day, vertebral disc replacement may be more commonplace than knee and hip joint replacement is today.”

For more information about the Bryan Cervical Disc System clinical trial call 866-508-7425. To contact Carolina Neurosurgery & Spine Associates, call 704-376-1605.

Click here to view a FACT SHEET about the Bryan Cervical Disc System.