- The most common surgery to repair a cervical herniated disc is an anterior cervical discectomy and spinal fusion to remove the slipped disc and replace it with a bone graft, according to Spine-Health.
- With the patient under anesthesia, the surgeon makes an incision in the neck, accesses the spinal column and uses x-ray to identify the correct disc before removing it.
- This procedure can be done as an outpatient surgery, but it may also require a short hospital stay, according to the Mayo Clinic. Pain at the incision site is common and may be treated with painkillers.
- Pain and numbness in the arm may occur for several weeks to months after the surgery. Neck pain can last longer and the patient may need a neck brace.
- In rare cases, infection, excessive bleeding, spinal cord damage and injury to the esophagus resulting in difficulty swallowing and speech disturbances may occur, according to Spine-Health.
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