Booming spinal surgery triggers innovative approaches (Plastics Today)
The rapid growth of efforts to alleviate lower back pain is driving innovation in surgical procedures, and in at least one case creating new opportunities for engineering plastics.
PEEK fusion cage implant. (Solvay)
As many as 240,000 lumbar spinal fusion procedures will be performed in the United States in 2013, representing a market of more than $3 billion.
TranS1 Inc. (Raleigh, NC), which designs and markets products to treat degenerative conditions of the spine affecting the lumbar region, is using polyetheretherketone (PEEK) in a lumbar fusion cage implant in its recently developed VEO Direct Lateral Access and Interbody Fusion System.
VEO is a direct lateral fusion system for the lumbar spine whose interbody cage is made from Zeniva PEEK rod stock. Zeniva is part of Solvay's line of Solviva Biomaterials, which was launched at K 2007. The line represents Solvay's increased emphasis on boosting penetration to the medical market with specially qualified and manufactured engineering plastics for injection molding, extrusion, and machined shapes and forms.
According to Solvay, Zeniva PEEK has a ...
