Artificial disks set to revolutionize spine care

[Guest guest]

Hi -

Thanks for the info. I read this article recently as well. It gives great hope.

I had a lumbar laminectomy 2 years ago and may have to have another one

eventually. They wanted to do a fusion on me a few months ago and were all set

to schedule it when I got a 2nd and 3rd opinion and they both said don't do it.

The neurosurgeon who did the first one was really quick to want to get me back

in and cut me for another $40,000. Guess he needed a new Beemer, lol.

Anyway...I'm always on the lookout for fusion articles knowing that someday I

may have to have one, so I appreciate this.

Thank you!

Hugs-

Ivy

Quoting <Matsumura_Clan@...>:

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> Artificial disks set to revolutionize spine care

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> Rheumawire

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> Jul 15, 2004

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> Mann

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> Rochester, MN - An advisory panel to the federal Food and Drug

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> Administration (FDA) voted for the eventual commercialization of the SB

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> Charité III (DePuy Spine/ & , Raynham, MA), an artificial

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> disk consisting of a polyethylene core that slides between 2 metal end

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> plates, with a few stipulations regarding teaching programs and patient

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> follow-up. The FDA is not obligated to follow the decisions of its

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> advisory panel, but it usually does.

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> " Charité was 100% approved by a physician industry panel and with

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> minimal stipulations in regard to a teaching program and following up,

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> and now we are awaiting FDA approval, " says Dr Hochschuler

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> (Texas Back Institute, Plano), who conducted some of the studies on

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> Charité as well as other artificial disks in the pipeline. " I am very

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> excited about this approval, " he says. " To date, this is the most

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> exciting thing ever to happen in [spine care]. " He says FDA action is

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> expected by year-end. Currently, the Charité artificial disk is a

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> medical device limited by US law to investigational use, but it's

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> available in more than 30 countries throughout the world.

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> He adds that the studies in Charité that brought it to this point were

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> " really flawless. "

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> In a 2-year study, patients implanted with the Charité disk improved

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> more quickly than those who underwent fusion surgery. Moreover, patients

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> who received the artificial disk scored higher on pain and function

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> scores compared with fusion patients [1]. Patients in the Charité group

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> were also discharged form the hospital a half-day earlier than

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> spinal-fusion patients, and the 2 groups were comparable in terms of

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> complication rates. The results were presented in March 2004 at the 20th

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> annual meeting of the American Association of Neurological

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> Surgeons/Congress of Neurological Surgeons (AANS/CNS) Section on

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> Disorders of the Spine and Peripheral Nerves in San Diego, CA.

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> In this study, average range of motion in the disk group was 7.4° at 2

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> years, according to radiographic findings. Disk space height was

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> restored from an average of 5.7 mm before surgery to 12.9 mm at 2 years

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> after surgery. After the procedure, 88% of patients were satisfied with

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> the Charité disk procedure, compared with 81% of spinal-fusion patients.

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> In disk-replacement spinal surgery with the Charité, the collapsed

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> degenerated disk is removed and the Charité disk is implantedfirst the 2

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> end plates, and then the core in the middle, through the use of

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> specialized instruments. The 2 end plates (made of a cobalt chromium

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> alloy) are pressed into the vertebrae above and below the disk space,

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> and teeth along the border of the end plate grip the bone. A

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> polyethylene core is then placed between the end plates.

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> " The key to me, after having done this for 30 years, is that the spine

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> should be treated like the hips and knees, and instead of fusing, we

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> should maintain motion flexibility and balance and stability, "

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> Hochschuler tells rheumawire.

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> Artificial disks have " a lot of advantage, " he says. " It's a revolution,

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> not an evolution. " Previously, the thinking was that if a patient had a

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> painful spine, it should be fused, and now the concept is " refuse to

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> fuse, " he says.

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> Charité is not the only disk coming down the pike. Others include

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> PRODISC-C (Synthes-Stratec/Spine Solutions, Oberdorf, Switzerland), the

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> MAVERICK Artificial Disc (Medtronic Sofamor Danek, Inc, Minneapolis,

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> MN), and the Actipore Artificial Disc Replacement System (Biorthex,

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> Montreal, QC).

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> " Charité has the lead right now and theoretically has advantages, "

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> Hochschuler says. " It's supposedly biomechanically the most similar to

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> one's normal disk function, but you have to look at placement and

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> instrumentation, so there are a lot of debates that are going to arise,

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> but anatomically it appears that the Charité [is superior], " he says.

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> When asked about the future of spine surgery, he says, " the ultimate

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> solution is regenerating your own disk, " but that is still a way off.

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>             Source

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>             Geisler F. American Association of Neurological

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> Surgeons and Congress of Neurological Surgeons Section on Disorders of

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> the Spine and Peripheral Nerves; March 17-20, 2004; San Diego, CA.

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> I'll tell you where to go!

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> Mayo Clinic in Rochester

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> http://www.mayoclinic.org/rochester

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> s Hopkins Medicine

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> http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org

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