New advances have been made in different devices for Minimally Invasive Spinal Surgery.
Fusion for the L5-S1 disc can now be done purely percutaneously thanks to the Trans1 Axia-LIF fusion system.
A small incision is made next to the coxis and a working channel is created all the way to the base of the S1 vertebra. Diskectomy is performed with long and specially designed curettes and finally a S1-L5 screw is placed to allow fusion and thus eliminate the pain from the degenerated disc (
www.trans1.com). Great interest was observed at the trans1/Axia-LIF workshop.
On the other hand, more and more experience is being obtained from the percudyn system from Interventional Spine. Good clinical results have been reported for cases of early disc degeneration and lumbar pain: (
www.i-spineinc.com)
Nucleous prosthesis, though, are not yet in the market and are still undergoing clinical trials.
