Spinal neurosurgeon Todd H Lanman has become the first US doctor to perform a two-level artificial disc replacement surgery using the newly US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) approved M6-C device from Orthofix. He performed the procedure with his Lanman Spinal Neurosurgery practice partner Jason Cuéllar at his side.
According to a press release, the M6-C is the world’s first artificial disc device created with a compressible viscoelastic core, which allows for the natural movement akin to that of a human’s own cervical disc, following years of devices made solely from metals, ceramics and hard plastics.
Lanman previously oversaw and led one of the primary clinical trials for the M6-C, leading to its subsequent approval by the FDA following two years of statistically superior clinical patient outcomes being proven in neck and arm pain and neurologic outcomes.
He has often been dubbed one of the country’s leading innovators in artificial disc replacement in the cervical and lumbar spines, as he has presided over many of the most recent advancements in his specialised field of study, including the 2016 FDA approval on the two-level Prestige LP cervical disc device, which he unveiled on CBS’ ‘The Doctors’ for the first time in the USA the following year.
A doctor of many firsts, he also became the first spine surgeon in the USA to begin offering Restorative Motion Surgery, a new procedure that returns nearly full movement to patients who have previously been fused, through the removal of old fusions, replacing them with artificial cervical disc devices.
Lanman has published many peer-reviewed articles, as well as book chapters on topics relating to his specialised area of medicine, and serves as a frequent media educator and contributor. For the last two decades, he has remained an associate clinical professor at UCLA.
Does insurance pay for it Medicare?
They’ve been doing multilevel lumbar and cervical disc replacement for more than 12 years in Germany with the M6-C and M6 lumbar. The USA is way late to the table. FDA currently only allow one level lumbar and 2 level cervical. Germany has been doing 3 and 4 level for years.