06:50 PM PST on Tuesday, November 30, 2004

BY JEAN ENERSEN / KING 5 News

Artificial hips and knees have been around for years. Now doctors at Harborview Medical Center are trying the same approach for backs. The goal is to replace spinal fusion.

Robin Wechkin woke up last February with excruciating pain in her upper back. Therapy didn't help.

KING

“Nothing's fun any more,” she said. “It's hard to do your job, be with your children.”

In Wechkin’s case, the typical fix would be spinal fusion, but that can put more stress on other vertebrae.

"When we do a fusion, it's sort of like a domino effect, it can affect levels above and below,” said Dr. Jens Chapman of Harborview Medical Center.

Instead Wechkin got the chance to participate in a clinical trial for a new artificial disc.

"That seemed like a very exciting option to me because all of the problems I heard about with the fusion,” she said. “Loss of mobility, additional strain on the adjacent discs went away with the artificial disc.”

The surgery is more complicated than a standard fusion, but the end result comes much closer to what nature intended.

"There's no question if we can preserve motion, this is a far more normal experience for the patient,” Chapman said.

Professional stuntman Jeff Gibson, who also had the surgery, said he's as flexible as ever and back on the job.

"This is the best thing I've ever done,” he said. “He gave me my life back.”

Harborview is one of 10 sites participating in the national clinical trials. So far, the disc is only being tested for upper back.

It's also a random stud, meaning half the patients will receive spinal fusion, which is the current standard of care. The other half will get the artificial disc.

For more information, call 206-731-3032 or check out the Web site.