| Innovative
Spinal Surgery in Live Webcast
A
new minimally invasive approach to spinal surgery will be broadcast
live on the Internet at 5 pm EDT on Tuesday,
October 7 from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical
Center. The surgery, a posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF),
will employ a new tubular retraction method that requires only
a small skin incision and “splits” the muscle covering the
spine to create a small portal through which surgeons can repair
the spinal damage.
Charles
L. Branch Jr., M.D., Professor and Chair of Neurosurgery at
Wake Forest, who helped to adapt the minimally invasive technique—known
as METRx—for PLIF, will perform the surgery. “The METRx minimally
invasive technology is useful for most herniated disc surgery,
in both the cervical and lumbar areas,” Branch said. “And we
are developing its use in the treatment of tumors, fractures
and other spine pathologies.”
For
the surgery in October, Dr. Branch will use an innovative device
called a Sextant (because it looks like a navigational sextant),
that requires only one additional skin puncture to set a titanium
rod that anchors the two vertebrae. Both the METRx and Sextant
systems are products of Medtronic Sofamor Danek, with whom
Branch has collaborated extensively over the past several years.
The company will be a sponsor of the October webcast. CME credit
is available.#
Education
Update, Inc., P.O. Box 1588, New York, NY 10159.
Tel: (212) 477-5600. Fax: (212) 477-5893. Email: ednews1@aol.com.
All material is copyrighted and may not be printed without express consent of
the publisher. © 2003.
|
