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 Raymedicas 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 info@mediligence.com
http://www.mediligence.com.
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