Study of Posterior Cervical Stabilization System (PCSS) as Part of Circumferential Fusion to Treat Multilevel DDD

Degenerative disc disease (DDD) is a condition in which people experience pain because of compression on the spinal cord or nerve roots caused by degenerating cervical discs. Discs sit between the bones of the spine to provide cushioning, shock absorption, mobility, and load-bearing. When the discs break down, the space between the bones gets smaller and squeezes on the spinal cord or nerve roots causing radiating pain down the neck, shoulders, or arms. A surgical approach to address cervical (neck) DDD is to fuse the bones together to prevent further compression. This can be done with or without removing the disc material itself. The most common way to perform a cervical spinal (neck) fusion to address DDD is to come in from the front of the neck, decompress the spine to relieve pain, and fuse the bones together to prevent further pain in a procedure called Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion (ACDF). Another option is to come in from the back of the neck in a procedure called Posterior Cervical Fusion (PCF). Sometimes these procedures are combined to provide further decompression and stability in the bones of the neck to promote fusion leading to quicker pain relief and return to function.