Rising Need for Advanced Spinal Surgery Devices

These are the latest findings of GBI Research (London, United Kingdom), a market-leading provider of business intelligence reports.

While spinal fusion has remained the gold standard for the treatment of spinal degenerative disorders, it can cause restriction of motion and degeneration of adjacent spinal segments through stress, which can further delay recovery and in some cases, even lead to unwanted additional back surgery. As a result, spinal nonfusion or motion-preserving technologies, which maintain the patient’s spinal mobility, are taking preference due to advances in spine procedures, helping to alleviate pain and restore motion with improved clinical benefits compared to arthrodesis or spinal joint fusion.

Motion-preservation techniques in spinal nonfusion procedures are predicted to be the next big thing in spinal surgery, and have seen enhanced adoption rates over the last few years. Following developments in the understanding of spinal physiology, anatomy, and spinal biomechanics, innovative techniques can now maintain spinal mobility while treating spinal degeneration. Artificial disc replacement (ADR), dynamic stabilization, and interspinous process decompression (IPD) devices are just some of the technologies developed to exploit this growing trend.

Minimally invasive spinal surgery (MISS) can be used to implant these devices, and surgeons are finding a number of clinical benefits. MISS techniques allow surgery to be performed with advanced devices such as endoscopes, lasers, and sophisticated computer-aided navigation systems, requiring an incision of only two centimeters, compared to traditional open spinal surgery that demands a large incision to be made in the back or abdomen, requiring the expertise of specialized vascular surgeons and risking serious injury. MISS consequently brings down the overall cost of treatment, as it reduces costs associated with prolonged hospital stays and continuous use of pain medication.

GBI Research expects the global spinal surgery devices market to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4%, from USD 6.5 billion in 2011 to USD 8.7 billion in 2018.

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