ArthroCare has recently announced that it has expanded the Parallax product line with the addition of a new product designed to mechanically displace soft bone in fractured vertebrae. The Parallax product set includes a variety of products used for the minimally invasive stabilisation of vertebral compression fractures.
The new device, Parallax Contour, an osteotome, uses a moveable, curved stylet to displace soft bone. This displacement of soft bone improves access into the vertebral body, which can then be filled with the injection of bone cement.
The Contour utilises a small access needle and is precisely advanced and rotated to prepare the space within the vertebral body. Conventional systems for enhanced vertebroplasty include high pressure injection systems such as balloon kyphoplasty, which take longer to perform and may be more costly.
“I am excited about the positive feedback we have received from the physicians who have used the Parallax Contour. The outcomes from these initial cases validate this device’s clinical value in the market,” said Jim Pacek, vice-president and general manager, ArthroCare Interventional Therapies. “Physicians report that the Contour is fast, easy to use and provides tactile feedback that is missing in some competitive systems. The bone can be displaced easily with precise control by the surgeon.”
“We are constantly looking for devices that are very easy to use to create a space in soft bone. After creating the space, I can complete the repair by placing bone cement exactly where I want it,” said J Kevin McGraw, an interventional radiologist from Riverside Radiology Associates of Columbus, USA who was the first physician to use Contour clinically.
