How is the MED different from cervical fusion?
A cervical fusion is usually preformed through the front of the neck. The fusion is accomplished by removing the entire disc material and replacing it with a graft of bone. To protect the fusion process, the patient may be required to wear a hard cervical brace for 4-6 weeks. You usually spend one night in the hospital following surgery. Recovery from this procedure is longer and returning to full activity is much slower (approximately 4-6 weeks depending on the patient). In the MED procedure only the material pressing on the nerve is removed leaving the rest of the disc space intact. Because of this, a cervical brace is not required in the recovery period and the patient will usually return to full unrestricted activity in 7-10 days.
