@robson78 Is your surgeon willing to do a no hardware fusion? If you are reacting to metals, that makes the most sense to me, but this is your decision with your surgeon. If you have only bone grafts, you'll need to say in a neck brace for about 3 months until it fuses, and your surgeon needs to trust you to do that. I'm sure you would because you understand the problems and this is your ticket to get away from the issues that you have now. The recovery after fusion is longer than artificial disc recovery. That takes longer to grow together than a broken bone because there is a lot of space that bone has to fill into a matrix as compared to fractures that are put together to heal.

I reacted to metals in my body and didn't know how much that was doing to me until it was removed. I had dental work with metals for many years with crowns and root canals because of breaking my teeth as a kid, and when all that was removed because I got Zirconium (ceramic) implants and new bridgework without metals, my asthma improved a lot until I broke my ankle and got titanium plates. Those are not suppose to cause issues for most people, but some people are allergic. 6 months after getting the ankle fixed, I developed chronic hives and had to stay on antihistamines all the time, and I had throbbing pain and was developing pigmentation on my skin near the plates. I had them removed and got better. If your surgeon is onboard with you to do a fusion with no metal hardware, I think that is a good option. You already know from your patch test. There is a lab in Chicago called Orthopedic Analysis that tests these immune responses to implant materials, but you don't need to do that unless you need to prove there is an issue.

Did you discuss the no hardware option with your surgeon and the need to stay in a neck brace until fused? You'll need to demonstrate that you are a good trustworthy patient because the surgeon will be concerned about risk of failure of the procedure with securing it with a plate.