ARTICLE SUMMARY:
It appears to be the best of times for total disc replacement, but, depending on one’s perspective, Simplify Medical’s herculean efforts to bring a new cervical implant to this area of spine surgery either reflects the opportunity or raises questions about the risk-reward balance for device innovators in this field.
At the final symposium of the most recent North American Spine Association’s (NASS) annual meeting last September, on a warm Saturday morning in a dark room at the Los Angeles convention center, some of the world’s leading spine surgeons and a core group of dedicated attendees met to discuss the status of one of the most successful minimally invasive spine procedures—total disc replacement (TDR).
