LINK® SB Charité™ Artificial Disc

The SB Charité™ Artificial Disc serves as a replacement for degenerative lumbar discs to alleviate pain and retain mobility of the affected spinal section. By maintaining mobility damage to adjoining sections, often observed after fusion, has so far not been reported.

From 1987 until today several THOUSANDS patients worldwide have been operated using the LINK® SB Charité Artificial Disc. 

The Concept of a Total Disc Replacement
Differing from current spine fusion techniques, total disc replacement is intended to maintain motion at the operative level once the damaged disc has been removed. Additionally, total disc replacement theoretically protects the discs at adjacent levels by sharing or distributing the stress through the lower back during normal activities such as lifting and bending (flexion and extension).

Replacement of painful arthritic joints is extremely common. For example, artificial hip and knee replacements are among the most successful and reliable operations performed today, with good results typically in over 90% of patients.

Since artificial hips and knees were introduced in the 1960’s, surgeons have explored the idea of prosthetic replacements for damaged or degenerated intervertebral discs. As the intervertebral disc and its biomechanical behavior are very complex, the engineering a total disc replacement has been challenging. Total disc replacement with Link Spine Group’s SB Charité Intervertebral Dynamic Disc Spacer has been performed in Europe for over 14 years and has been used in treating nearly 4,000 patients worldwide.

The SB Charité Intervertebral Dynamic Disc Spacer

The SB Charité Intervertebral Dynamic Disc Spacer (also known as an artificial disc or total disc replacement) was originally developed at the Charité Clinic in Berlin, Germany in the mid-1980’s through a co-operation between leading orthopaedic spine specialists and the staff at Waldemar Link GmbH, a leading European based medical device manufacturer based in Hamburg, Germany.

The SB Charité is a prosthesis system consisting of two endplates made of high quality cobalt chromium alloy with an ultra high molecular weight polyethylene sliding core placed between them. Both of these materials are well tolerated by the body and are the same standardized implant materials that have been used in artificial hip and knee prostheses for the last 30 years.

The endplates are attached to the vertebral bodies by means of anchoring teeth along their edge. The polyethylene sliding core is placed between these articulating endplates and is designed to allow near normal physiological movement. Much like an artificial hip or knee that relies on metal and plastic bearing surfaces to replicate normal movement of those joints, the SB Charité is designed to closely mimic the normal function of a healthy disc.

The surgical procedure for the SB Charité requires placement of the implant using an anterior (front) approach with a small incision just below the belly button. The degenerative disc is removed at the affected level and the SB Charité Intervertebral Dynamic Disc Spacer is placed into the disc space.

The SB Charité has received the CE mark and is commercially available outside of the United States in over 25 countries throughout Europe, Asia, Canada, Australia, Africa and Latin America.

Artificial Disc Replacement | Degenerative Disc Disease | Discectomy and Laminotomy | Discectomy with Fusion | Foraminal Stenosis | Cervical DDD

Internal Disc Disruption | Radicular pain of the neck |Treatment of Cervical Disc Disease | Jim's ADR story | SB Charite III | Lumbar DDD | Other Resourses