Good news that you had unequivocal, concordant pain. That will give you and your surgeon more confidence in whatever you ultimately do to deal with that disc. Were other levels tested?
Unknown longevity of ADR vs. the guaranteed longevity of what? I still like to watch the tennis video on the GPN website... 23 years post-op for ADR patient #1.
IMHO, longevity of the device is directly proportional to the quality of the implantation. You should not be able to wear out a properly positioned, properly functioning disc. The only device problems I've seen have to do with poor implantation, poor patient selection, and I've now heard of one true device failure... adamaged prosthesis in someone who was a competitive weightlifter and was lifting a bazillion pounds.
(just my layperson's opinion)
Mark
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