Lecturer: Disc preservation can reduce number of fusions (Helio)
With back pain becoming increasingly more common, the clinical implications of disc research are greater than ever before. Therefore, these efforts should focus on disc preservation, which is less invasive than fusions, according to a presenter, here.
Gunnar B.J. Andersson, MD, PhD, noted in his plenary lecture at the Philadelphia Spine Research Symposium that the disc can be preserved for a while. “But, the primary cause [of degeneration] is genetic,” he said.
The number of fusions performed in the United States and the procedure’s cost has increased, and since fusion is an invasive approach it is more urgent than ever to find a cure for degenerative disc disease (DDD).
In 2011, the cost for a fusion increased to $44,000, he said. This underscores why disc research should continue and focus more intently on the preservation of the spinal disc. Hopefully, such a strategy will affect the degenerative process early on, at the stage when it first starts to be visible on MRI and well before it is detected on radiographs of the spine, Andersson said.
“In 2011 there were about 450,000 fusion operations in the United States ...
