Our most viewed piece in January was an insightful video interview—conducted at DWG Kongress—with Michael Fehlings (Toronto, Canada) on the management of patients with spinal cord injury. Making up rest of the top three was some research on decompression alone versus decompression with fusion for those with degenerative lumbar spondylolisthesis and a comparison of lateral single position surgery with circumferential fusions. There were also some interesting industry announcements in January from Abbott, SI-Bone, Empirical Spine, SynerFuse and Surglasses.
1. Time is spine: A paradigm shift in the management of spinal cord injury
Michael Fehlings (Toronto, Canada) talks to Spinal News International at DWG-Kongress (7–9 December 2022; Berlin, Germany) about the “dramatic shift” over the past 25 years in the management and outcomes of spinal cord injury (SCI) patients.“Time is spine” is an important concept, notes Fehlings, adding that “the role of early decompression has had a dramatic impact” on the outcomes of those with SCI.
There is high quality evidence showing that there is no difference in terms of functionality after decompression alone compared to decompression with fusion in patients with degenerative lumbar spondylolisthesis at two years of follow-up. This is the key takeaway of a systematic review and meta-analysis, published recently in the European Spine Journal by Pravesh Gadjradj (Weill Cornell, Brain and Spine Centre, New York, USA) et al.
Lateral single position surgery (LSPS) and circumferential fusions have similar outcomes at two-years postoperatively, while reducing perioperative complications, improving perioperative efficiency and safety, a new study has shown.
4. Abbott launches Eterna spinal cord stimulation system for the treatment of chronic pain
Abbott has announced US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of its Eterna spinal cord stimulation (SCS) system—which the company describes as the world’s smallest implantable, rechargeable spinal cord stimulator currently available on the market for the treatment of chronic pain.
5. Unilateral pedicle screw fixation as effective as bilateral for TLIF, new meta-analysis finds
Unilateral pedicle screw fixation (UPSF) is just as effective as bilateral pedicle screw fixation (BPSF) in transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) and may even reduce blood loss and operation time.
SI-Bone has announced additional US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance for its iFuse Bedrock Granite, including new indications with a wide variety of commercially available pedicle screw system rods.
Empirical Spine has revealed that it has recently completed the final step in the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) submission process for the LimiFlex Dynamic Sagittal Tether (DST).
Despite a shorter duration of surgery and hospital stay in a private setting, the clinical effectiveness of surgery for degenerative cervical radiculopathy performed in public and private hospitals was equivalent 12 months after surgery.
9. SynerFuse announces “milestone” solo spine surgeon procedure in DRG stimulation study
Justin Zenanko, the CEO of SynerFuse, has announced that—in what the company says is a world-first—a solo spine surgeon has performed the “groundbreaking” SynerFuse procedure.
10. Surglasses receives FDA 510(k) clearance for Caduceus S AR spine navigation system
Surglasses has announced that its Caduceus S augmented reality (AR) spine navigation system has received 510(k) clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration and is ready to launch its products into the US market in the first quarter of 2023.