The Charit Artificial Disc is expected to receive FDA approval for degenerative disc disease by the end of 2004, making it the only artificial spinal disc available in the U.S. "This is the first major breakthrough in back surgery since the 1940s," says orthopedic surgeon Richard Guyer of the Texas Back Institute in Plano. The Charit replaces one of two lower-back discs, which help cushion the spine, enable the back to bend, and keep the nerves that exit the spinal column from being pinched by bone. In a procedure that takes as little as an hour, a surgeon cuts into the patient's abdomen, clears a path to the spine, scrapes out the damaged disc, and inserts the Charit.