Anterior bone loss after cervical Bryan disc arthroplasty: insight into the biomechanics following total disc replacement

•Anterior bone loss following cervical total disc replacement is an emerging issue.•In 121 cervical total disc replacement patients, about half had anterior bone loss.•Shell angle rather than range of motion was related to anterior bone loss. Cervical disc arthroplasty (CDA) is an innovative procedure launched in the early 2000s. Compared with anterior cervical discectomy and fusion, many studies show that CDA offers equivalent clinical outcomes while reducing secondary procedures and total cost. We sought to determine the incidence of anterior bone loss after CDA and the related biomechanical effects. Retrospective chart review. Patients who underwent CDA with one level Bryan Disc (Medtronic SofamorDanek, Memphis, TN, USA) at one institution. Radiological measurements, including the extent of anterior bone loss, global alignment angle, shell angle, lordotic angle, mean degree of angle of the endplate with the horizontal line, global range of motion (ROM) and ROM of the index level were recorded. The grading of anterior bone loss of the index level was defined as Grade 0, no remodeling; Grade 1, spur disappearance or mild change in body contour; Grade 2, obvious bone regression with Bryan Disc exposure. Anatomical measures and ROM were compared by grade of bone loss. Of the 121 patients included in the study, anterior bone loss was found in 53 (43.8%) on the upper adjacent level and 54 (44.6%) on the lower adjacent level. Twenty-nine patients (23.9%) had anterior bone loss in both levels. The majority of cases had Grade 1 anterior bone loss. Grade 2 bone loss was noted in the upper adjacent vertebra in only 5 patients and in 4 patients in the lower adjacent vertebra. Age, sex, operative level, and hybrid surgery had no effect on anterior bone loss. Most radiological assessments, including global alignment angle, lordotic angle, mean degree of angle of the endplate with the horizontal line, global ROM, and ROM of the index level, showed no correlation to anterior bone loss. Shell angle was found to be different in groups with or without remodeling in the upper adjacent level: 5.0 degreesin the Grade 0 group and 7.0 degrees in the Grade 1-2 group, p