Disc Arthroplasty Gaining Ground Among Spine Surgeons, Patients, According to MedMarkets
The limitations of spine fusion in addressing disc disease — a failure rate of 10% or higher, the creation of excessive stress on adjacent vertebrae, and the resulting persistent pain in an estimated 20% of patients — is causing fusion to be viewed more critically, especially in light of the clinical success of products in disc arthroplasty, according to the July 2004 issue of MedMarkets, published by MedMarket Diligence.
(PRWEB) August 6, 2004 -- Technologies in disc replacement have been under
development for years and are already available in Europe with the intent of
correcting the structural defects in disc disease in a more dynamic manner. This
allows more natural functioning of the spine than results from spine
fusion.
“Total disc replacement or replacement of just the disc nucleus
with an artificial or even tissue-engineered implant has already been well
demonstrated in Europe with roughly 7,000 patients implanted with the Charité
disc, now available through DePuy Spine,” says Patrick Driscoll, publisher of
MedMarkets. “This market is also primed to open up, with the third generation
version, the Charité III, likely to gain approval and enter the U.S. market this
year, to be followed in the next few years by introduction of replacement disc
products from Synthes-Stratec, Medtronic Sofamor Danek, SpineCore, Cervitech,
and EBI/Biomet.”
According to the coverage of disc arthroplasty in the
July 2004 MedMarkets, replacement of disc nucleus is not that far behind. The
most experienced competitor in development of nucleus implants, Raymedica, began
clinical trials in October 2003, and is working toward market introduction in
the U.S. by 2007. Products to follow Raymedica’s will include the nucleus
replacement discs of Disc Dynamics, DePuy Spine, Replication Medical, Spine Wave
and Synthes-Stratec by 2009.
The MedMarkets article reviews the
competitors, products, and forecast market and its opportunities for disc
arthroplasty. In turn, the MedMarkets article provides a glimpse into the
broader market for spine surgery technologies publishing from MedMarket
Diligence. That report, “Spine Surgery: Products, Technologies, Markets &
Opportunities, Worldwide,” is described at www.mediligence.com/rpt-m501.htm.
MedMarket Diligence
provides tactical decision-making solutions on medical technology to the medical
products and investment industries. The company publishes the “MedMarkets”
newsletter, a monthly analysis of the market implications of new medical
technology and dedicated reports on technology markets.
For more
information on MedMarket Diligence, LLC,
Patrick Driscoll at (949)
859-3401
e-mail e-mail protected from spam bots
http://www.mediligence.com.
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/8/prweb147087.htm