Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Artificial nucleus pulposus replacement is one of the best treatments for lumbar disc degeneration and reestablishing the interverteberal stability and function of sparing motion, an approved artificial material is the focus and difficult problem in current studies.
OBJECTIVE: To review the methods and achievements in treating lumbar intervertebral disc protrusion, analyze the history and current situation of artificial nucleus pulposus, and to review the features of prefabricatel and in-situ polymerizated artificial nucleus pulposus.
METHODS: PubMed (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed), Wangfang (http://www.wanfangdata.com.cn) and Lumbar Intervertebral Disc Protrusion were searched by the first author using key words of “nucleus replacement, biocompatibility, disc degenerative” both in English and Chinese for documents of treating methods, material selection and implantation approaches in treating lumbar disc degeneration. Totally 90 manuscripts were searched, and 36 papers were included in this review.  
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Two kinds of prosthesis are used in artificial nucleus pulposus replacement, namely, prefabricatel and in-situ polymerizated. The former is more similar to normal nucleus pulposus in biomechanics; however, it is thought to be arouse various complications. In-situ polymerizated material is an elastic body that polymerize and stiffen after implantation with various monomers, which can maximum reduce the surgical trauma and decline the risk of graft dislocation. But it is still need assessment. It suggest that as one of the new alternative in treating lumber disc herniation, many kinds of materials are under investigation, and have gain some early achievement. Artificial nucleus replacement is a potential surgical technique as a recruitment and improvement of traditional surgery.