France-based SpineGuard and Flowood, Miss.-based Zavation have announced the successful completion of 20 U.S.-based surgeries using dynamic surgical guidance SmartScrew technology.
Here's what you need to know:
1. While one in five pedicle screws are misplaced during spinal fusion and cause spinal cord and nerve damage, the DSG SmartScrew technology provides surgeons with real-time auditory guidance to help them insert the screw in one step.
2. SpineGuard reported 20 surgeries were recently successfully performed in the U.S. with the SmartScrew. The technology reduces surgery time and allows surgeons to use less fluoroscopy than usual.
3. Tampa-based University of South Florida neurosurgery professor Thomas Freeman, MD, said of his experience using the technology, "I knew immediately where the trajectory of the screw was going, even without fluoroscopy. Rather than using five steps to put a screw into the spine, only one step was needed. I could redirect it easily if needed."
4. SpineGuard and Zavation partnered in 2015 to develop the DSG-integrating pedicle screw.
5. The U.S. spine industry is estimated to have grown 5 percent between 2015 and 2016 to $7.8 billion in hospital sales, marking the market's highest year-to-year growth since 2010.
6. The U.S. spinal implants and devices market exceeds the U.S. hip and knee market's size, growing to an estimated $7.5 billion in 2015, up 2.5 percent from 2014.
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