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Inside
the spine:
The spinal column is made up of five sections
and consists of 33 bones known as the vertebrae.
Get an inside look of the spine you won't
find anywhere else!
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Newspaper Articles
New
Back Surgery at ValleyCare 
Surgical
Breakthrough Smooth
sailing for new back surgery...
Northern
California Spine Institute Keeps Backs... Advances
Revolutionize Spinal Fusion Surgery
Tri-Valley Herald
Article Last Updated:
Wednesday, July 17, 2002 - 3:06:46 AM MST
Smooth sailing for new back surgery Patients expected to recover quickly
By Matt Carter,STAFF WRITER
PLEASANTON -- Two women underwent a new surgical procedure Tuesday
that employs a newly approved genetically engineered protein to fuse
vertebrae in the lower back.
The patients -- a 41-year-old San Ramon resident and
a
closed-circuit television. "It's all preparation.
Once the preparation is done, the implants go in really fast."
A quick recovery was also anticipated, with the patients
expected to go home within 48 hours.
Nearly 200,000 spinal fusions are performed each year
to relieve back pain that's caused by failed discs pressing on nerves.
Until now, surgeons had to take bone chips from patients' hips to
spur new bone growth inside the implanted cages. Taking the donor
bone from the hip can be more painful and harder to recover from
than the spinal surgery itself.
Booth said he expects the new method to remain state
of the art for several years.
"The next thing on the horizon is disc replacement,"
he said. "We're lining patients up for a clinical study involving
artificial cervical (neck) discs."
Although artificial discs would give patients a full
range of motion, it's likely they'll first be approved for use in
the neck, rather than the lower back, where stresses on the spine
are greater, said Robert Hanvik, a spokesman for Medtronic Sofamor
Danek, the company that distributes the new bone-graft protein.
Medtronic markets the protein, called recombinant
human bone morphogenetic protein, or rhBMP-2, as the InFUSE bone
graft method. Last month Medtronic announced it is in the process
of acquiring a company that's developing an articifial cervical
disc, Spinal Dynamics Corp., for $270 million.
Although Hanvik couldn't confirm Tuesday was the first
time the InFUSE method has been performed in California using laparoscopy,
he said it was undoubtedly one of the first such operations in the
nation since the FDA trials.
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