The second leading cause of disability in America is degenerative disc disease (DDD). An estimated 12 million people suffer with back pain from DDD, with a million of them undergoing surgery each year. Typically, this back pain is treated with a discectomy and spinal instrumentation with fusion, which uses materials such as metal alloys and polymers. However these materials do not match the complex structure and properties of a natural intervertebral disc in the spine.

Dr. Roger Hartl, Department of Neurosurgery, is working with colleagues Drs. Matthew Cunningham at Hospital for Special Surgery and Lawrence Bonassar at Cornell University, Ithaca, Department of Biomedical Engineering, to find a more natural and less invasive route for treating DDD. Seeking a more minimally invasive approach, Dr. Hartl has been harvesting human disc tissue from patients undergoing routine cervical and lumbar spinal surgery. This tissue is being researched in an animal model to see if it will function as a safe and effective biological intervertebral disc replacement in the spine. In addition, it will be monitored to ensure that the mechanical and biochemical characteristics hold up over time.

DDD is one of the most common medical conditions worldwide resulting in high health care costs and human suffering. Even with aggressive surgical intervention in highly selected patients, significant pain relief is achieved at a rate of 70 to 85%.

This study will lay the groundwork for tissue engineering of human intervertebral discs as a possibly durable alternative to fusion surgery involving mechanical devices.