Orthopedics This Week reports on the findings of an HSS study published in The Spine Journal by Sheeraz Qureshi, MD, MBA, co-chief of HSS Spine, and colleagues evaluating clinical outcomes after cervical disc replacement in patients with neck pain greater than arm pain. Investigators also compared outcomes for patients with predominant neck pain with those with predominant arm pain and equal neck and arm pain.

The study found that cervical disc replacement leads to comparable improvement in neck pain and disability in patients presenting with neck pain greater than arm pain.

“Understanding the best treatment for neck pain (irrespective of type of surgical or nonsurgical intervention) is difficult. In general, when we perform surgical interventions in the cervical spine, we often tell patients that arm pain is more likely to get better than neck pain. Furthermore, if neck pain is a major component of a patient’s symptoms, then surgeons will often suggest fusion as the best option,” said Dr. Qureshi.

He added, “I was pleasantly surprised that patients who underwent cervical disc replacement did indeed have improvement in their neck pain (as well as their arm pain). Thus, surgical intervention, and specifically cervical disc replacement, which is a motion preserving surgical alternative, can be considered in patients with neck pain when a surgeon believes surgery would be helpful.”

Read the full article at ryortho.com.