Thursday, April 30, 2009

Injectable Bone Graft for Minimally Invasive Spinal Surgery

Filed under: Neurological Surgery , Orthopedic Surgery

DePuy, Inc., a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, announced the launch of an injectable bone graft replacement made specifically for minimally invasive spine surgery (MIS). The product, HEALOS Fx, is composed of the same mixture as an older product of DePuy, HEALOS, but instead of being sold in pre-sized strips, it is sold as a moldable, mixable, and injectable compound. The material is meant to be injected by cannula into hard to reach sites in order to provide a scaffolding for bone marrow formation and osteoprogenitor cell growth.

From the press release:

HEALOS Fx is a ready-to-use fibrous material that can be molded for open applications or injected via cannulas of differing lengths to reach difficult implantation sites in minimally invasive or small void surgical environments. The original form of HEALOS, which exists as pre-formed strips of varying sizes, has been available for more than seven years in the U.S. and has been used in more than 65,000 procedures nationwide.

The new HEALOS Fx is a bone graft option for precise placement into difficult-to-reach surgical sites, particularly around pedicle screws and the interbody space, said Kornelis Poelstra, M.D., Ph.D., University of Maryland Shock Trauma, Baltimore. In addition, since the chemical composition of HEALOS and HEALOS Fx is identical, the compelling safety and performance records of the graft material have been well established."

HEALOS Fx, which has a cohesive consistency when saturated with the patient's bone marrow, provides both a continuous scaffold for bone formation and the osteoprogenitor cells needed to initiate new bone growth. The material is resorbed and remodeled into new bone as part of the healing process. HEALOS Fx was designed using proprietary DePuy Spine nanotechnology which promotes osteoprogenitor cell attachment and maturation. HEALOS Fx comes with a self-contained mixing and delivery device that allows for a smooth, simple mixing motion to create a uniform graft material in less than one minute.

Press Release: Depuy Spine Launches Healos® Fx Injectable Bone Graft Replacement - For Minimally Invasive Spine Procedures

Product Page: HELOS Fx

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