The availability of commercially-produced joint replacements in veterinary surgery is rapidly expanding. Joint replacements are currently available for the hip, elbow and stifle. The purpose of this presentation is to discuss joint replacements that are currently available for human prostheses, but not yet available as veterinary prostheses.Disc Arthroplasty While the development of lumbar total disc arthroplasty prostheses preceded the development of cervical disc prostheses, cervical prostheses likely have greater clinical applicability for the veterinary surgeon. The advantage of disc arthroplasty compared to fusion is the preservation of motion. The goal of motion preservation is the prevention of adjacent site disc degeneration that results from the transfer of stresses to sites cranial and caudal to the fused vertebrae. In veterinary patients, this is most commonly described with disc-associated wobbler's syndrome.
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