Fabien D. Bitan, MD will perform a New Procedure for the Treatment of Degenerative Disc Disease called Total Disc Replacement with SB Charite Artificial Disc on January 26, 2005. Americans work hard and play hard, and as a result, more than 75 percent of Americans suffer from back pain at some point in their lives. Young people push their bodies at the gym and on the fields and baby boomers are opting to continue being active as they get older. As a result of this trend and emerging medical technology, joint replacement surgeries of the knee and hip have become commonplace, yet many people live with and tolerate back pain. These back pain sufferers now have a revolutionary new treatment option. An emerging type of spinal surgery, called total disc replacement, has shown great promise in clinical trials and has recently gained full FDA approval for a prosthetic disc used in the procedure. Total disc replacement, used for treatment of degenerative disc disease, involves removing the deteriorated disc from between the vertebrae and implanting an artificial disc made of metal and plastic. The SB Charite Artificial Disc was one of the most popular artificial discs among European spinal surgeons, who have been using several of these prosthetic discs on their patients since the 1980s, resulting in pain relief and restored mobility for thousands of patients.

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