Flexuspine Approved for First Clinical Study for a Total Spine Arthroplasty System in the US

Flexuspine: IDE for FSU (Orthopedics This Week) FDA has granted conditional approval to begin the initial phase of the Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) for a feasibility study of its Functional Spinal Unit (FSU). As indicated by the company, this is the first approved clinical study for a Total Spine Arthroplasty system in the U.S. The [...]

Study Identifies Accuracy, Reasons Related to Disclosure Among Orthopedic Surgeons

Study identifies accuracy, reasons related to disclosure among orthopedic surgeons (OrthoSuperSite) Overall disclosure rate is 71%

Trend – US Doctors Traveling Abroad to Treat American Medical Tourists

Now U.S. Doctors Traveling Abroad to Treat American Medical Tourists (PRNewsWire) Trends to Watch in Orthopedic Medicine

IMPLANET Raises an Additional $11M to Launch Hip, Knee, Spine and Arthroscopy Products in Europe

IMPLANET Raises Additional EUR 8 Million (USD 11 Million) to Fuel Deployment (PRNewsWire) Implanet is a Medical Device and Healthcare Information Technology company based in Bordeaux, France. IMPLANET was incorporated in early 2007 and currently employs 45 full time employees and is already present within 8 countries. IMPLANET designs and manufactures surgical implants (HIP, KNEE, SPINE, [...]

Baxter Spends Big on ApaTech to Join Orthobiologics Fray

   Baxter Spends Big on ApaTech to Join Orthobiologics Fray    (Medical Devices Today)

Soft Tissue Regeneration Naps $500K to Develop ACL Repair

Soft Tissue Regeneration brings in $500,000  (MassHighTech) http://www.softtissueregeneration.com

Chitosan Offers Hope for Spinal Injury Patients

Chitosan Offers Hope For Spinal Injury Patients (MedicalNewsToday)

Will LDR’S Mobi-C Be the First Cervical Disc to Obtain Two-Level Approval in the US?

     Mobi-C Prepares for PMA   (Orthopedics This Week)

Magen Medical Solutions Complete “First-in-man” Surgeries for SpineShield, an Anti-Adhesion Product, in Europe

Magen Medical Solutions: First Worldwide Patients Treated with Anti-Adhesion SpineShield (BusinessWire)

Stryker Launches the iVAS Inflatable Vertebral Augmentation System

Stryker Launches Kyphoplasty (Othopedics This Week)

In Q1, Life Sciences Was the Largest Sector for Venture Capital Investing With $1.3B Funding 160 Transactions

First-quarter VC investments up 38 percent over last year (Pittsburg Business Times)

New Non-Invasive Test, the ScolioScore, Screens for Scoliosis by Testing Saliva

New scoliosis test is non-invasive (WPVI-TV Philadelphia)

Gender-Specific Sizing for Knee Implants – Dr. Blaha Says That Data Shows it’S Not Necessary

Gender-specific sizing for knee implants: Do the data confirm the need? (OrthoSuperSite)

Computer-Assisted Robotic Total Knee Replacement Is Better Than Conventional Techniques

Better Alignment with Robotic Assistance? (Orthopedics This Week) Study Shows Significant Advantages of Computer-Assisted Robotic Total Knee Replacement (Newswise)

Indian Firm to Distribute Total Knees Designed by Drs. Buechel and Pappas (Endotec)

Total Knee will be called the “Altius” knee in India Orthopedic Implant Manufacturing Unit in Chennai: TTK Group Collaborates with US Firm (Asian Tribune) TTK Healthcare forays into Ortho segment (India Infoline Ltd)

Texas Back Institute Marks 10 Year Anniversary of 1st US Disc Replacement Surgery

Texas Back Institute Marks 10-Year Anniversary of First Artificial Disc Replacement Surgery in US (The Spine Market Group)

Integra LifeSciences (IART) Sees Opportunity in the Older, Fatter Patient

Older, Fatter Population Keeps Device Maker’s Profits In Good Shape (Investors.com)

OrthoHelix Surgical Designs Adds a $4.6M Cherry to Its $14M Series C Funding Round

OrthoHelix caps Series C round with $4.6 million cherry (MassDevice)

Former DePuy Marketing Executive Has Been Sentenced for Corrupt Payments to Greek Health Officials

Former executive of J&J subsidiary jailed (BusinessWeek) Former DePuy Exec Jailed in Europe (Orthopedics This Week) A former executive of a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary has been sentenced to a year in prison after pleading guilty to corruption over payments of 4.5 million pounds ($6.9 million) to Greek medical professionals. Robert John Dougall, a 44-year-old [...]

Articulinx Raises $10M to Develop Interpositional Spacers for Hand Osteoarthritis

Articulinx, Inc. Raises $10 Million in Series B Financing (BusinessWire) http://www.articulinx.com

ConforMIS Knee Implant Wins EU Approval

    ConforMIS knee implant wins EU approval (Boston Business Journal) ConforMIS Inc. announced that its customizable knee-replacement product has been approved by European regulators.  The privately held company said its iUni G2 system is a one-of-its-kind implant that provides an alternative to total knee replacements, which may remove healthy tissue in the process. The orthopedic [...]

K2M’S Serengeti Minimally Invasive Retractor System Wins a 2nd Award

K2M Wins Medical Design Excellence Award (BusinessWire)

Osseon Therapeutics Is Growing With $6M New Funding and Product Launches OUS

   Osseon’s steerable, curvable needle for injecting bone cement into fractured vertebrae Foreign sales boost Santa Rosa medical device maker  (PressDemocrat.com)

Intralink-Spine Receives Grant to Develop Its NEXT Disc Injection That Crosslinks Collagen

 Intralink-Spine Inc. creating injection to help millions  (ImpactNews.com) Company goals: 2010 — First-in-man trials 2011 — Pilot and clinical trials 2012 — FDA application process is launched, sales begin in Korea and Malaysia 2013 — Sales begin in Europe and China 2014 — Sales begin in the United States http://www.intralinkllc.com

TranS1 Opens Their New Facility in Wilmington, NC

TranS1 Opens New Facility, Welcomes Senator Richard Burr as Special Guest  (GlobalNewsWire)

Study: Spine Surgeons Prefer More Expensive and Complex Fusions to Simple Decompression Procedures

   More Costly Spine Surgery Has Higher Mortality Than Simpler Procedure, Says Study  (Health Leaders Media) Trends, Major Medical Complications, and Charges, Associated with Surgery for Lumbar Spinal Stenosis in Older Adults    (JAMA publication PDF)

Trend: Obese Canadians Are Driving a Surge in Total Knee Replacements

Bulging waistlines lead to surge in hip, knee replacements   (Vancouver Sun) Obesity, Hips, Knees and Canadians  (Orthopedics This Week)

Summit Medical (UK) Acquires Eska Implants (Germany) for Undisclosed Amount

Summit Medical buys German rival  (HealthInvestor) Summit Medical Buys Eska Implants (peHUB) http://www.summit-medical.co.uk http://eska-implants.de

Study: Cayenne’S AperFix System Works Well for PCL Reconstruction as Well as ACL Reconstruction

Cayenne Medical AperFix(R) System Shows Successful Outcomes For PCL Reconstruction  (PRNewsWire)

Trends, Major Medical Complications, and Charges Associated With Surgery for Lumbar Spinal Stenosis in Older Adults

Complex Spine Procedures on Rise in Older Patients   (link to MedPageToday) Spine surgery statistics published in a recent JAMA publication…  Deyo R, et al “Trends, major medical complications, and charges associated with surgery for lumbar spinal stenosis in older adults” JAMA 2010; 303: 1259-65.

Highly Crosslinked Polyethylene in THA Shows Reduced Wear at Mid-Term Follow-Up

Highly crosslinked polyethylene in THA shows reduced wear at mid-term follow-up  (link to OrthoSuperSite)

Tiger Woods and PRP (Platelet Rich Plasma)

Why ‘Blood Spinning’ Is Legal (link to WSJ) Tiger Woods and PRP (Platelet Rich Plasma)   (link to TriathalonDoctor.com) Health Caring: Sorry, Tiger Woods, but platelet-rich plasma therapy is far from proven   (link to Jacksonville.com)

Game Changer! Mobile Compression Device From Israel Prevents Blood Clots After Hip replacement…Better Than Drugs Do

    Device to revolutionize preventive blood clot care after joint replacement surgery  (link to EurekAlert)

Should Ortho Manufacturers Provide Implant Warranties?

    Health System Bears Cost of Implants With No Warranties   (link to New York Times) Dr. Lawrence Dorr says yes… the manufacturers need to have skin in the game.  In 2008, Dr. Dorr was the first to call for recall of Zimmer’s Durom acetabular cup. Makers of defibrillators do.   Shouldn’t orthopedic implants be warrantied?

A Cure for Spinal Cord Injuries Will Come From a Multidisciplinary Approach, Drawing From Expertise in Several Medical Fields

Next decade offers promise for treatment of spinal cord injuries (link to ScienceBlog)

Hip Surgery Success Can Be Predicted by Existing Conditions

   Hip surgery success partially predicted by number of other existing conditions  (link to EurekAlert) “We confirmed use of the ASA classification can help identify high-risk patients,” continued Dr. Donegan. “We recommend these higher risk patients, in class 3 or 4, be closely managed medically so that any existing conditions can be treated and any evolving [...]

February 22, 2012

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