[State of the art of lumbar intervertebral disc replacement].

Lumbar intervertebral total disc replacement is becoming more commonly employed for patients with degenerative disc disease as an alternative to spinal arthrodesis. Postulated advantages for the patients are motion preservation and height restoration in the affected segment, preventing adjacent level degeneration. Although studies show short and mid-term results which are comparable to spinal fusion, to date the long-term outcome is not clear. The different types of artificial discs and the current status of lumbar disc replacement are described.