ABSTRACT

Spine surgery has become more aggressive and technically demanding due to the development of methods for procedures such as extensive resection of tumors and reconstruction of disrupted spines. Consequently, various stabilization instruments and biomaterials for replacing spine structures have been developed; a prototype vertebral prosthesis for replacing destroyed vertebral bodies is a typical example of the latter. An increasing number of patients are seeking palliative treatment for severe pain due to skeletal cancer metastases and spine destruction. Since the 1960s, the quest for immediate pain relief and early return to normal daily life has led to the design of vertebral prostheses that can bear heavy weight, bending, and torsional strain while remaining firmly anchored to adjacent unaffected vertebral bodies with bone cement (polymethylmethacrylate). To protect the spinal cord from heat injury during polymerization of bone cement, metal prostheses have been replaced with alumina ceramic prostheses.