The OrtoWay story and the clever solution for vertebral distraction.

When I joined OrtoWay as CEO, the product was designed for anterior surgery, where two bridges were used to separate the vertebra, named open surgery.

Stan Mikulowski

The medical profession wanted to develop this further, which meant that a smaller incision could be done, leading to a more lateral approach where one bridge became standard.

My thinking was to continue developing this unique instrument to offer a broader medical use of the hydraulic force, as demonstrated in the case report from Cologne in Germany, during a corpectomy surgery.

My idea was to extend the pistons’ length and the cylinders to cover a longer distance, enabling new surgical application opportunities. We realized that this instrument could be used wherever a vertebra distraction is needed to simplify access and to offer freedom to operate when inserting or removing implants during revisits.

We have now demonstrated that this product is safe for clinical use, leading us to believe that MIS is the next step, as the cylinders can be placed outside the body while longer screws are used.

This may offer another feature in the area of MIS, as distraction can be performed at the far end of the disc laterally, which is problematic today, where total disc cleaning is essential for such surgery.

There is a preliminary interim analysis from the clinical work done in Germany, awaiting some fine-tuning before submission to a peer-reviewed spine journal.

OrtoWay-US Inc has FDA clearance, is based on the East Coast, and is looking for additional funds for it’s US expansion.


For more information contact:

Stan Mikulowski, CEO/OwnerLinkedIn
OrtoWay-US Inc.
Two Walnut Grove Drive
Horsham, PA 19044, USA
www.ortoway-usa.com

Phone; Sweden; 01146 708 769 991