Ventura, CA (1888PressRelease)
March 19, 2007 - VENTURA COUNTY, CA. March 15, 2007. – Dr. Samuel Small and Dr. Brian Rudin welcomed French surgeon and inventor, Dr. Thierry Marnay, into the operating room to evaluate their techniques implanting a revolutionary device designed to relieve back pain from degenerative discs.
Marnay, a French orthopedic surgeon, developed the mobile device, known as the Prodisc. It is designed to reproduce the motion of a normal, healthy disc. The Prodisc, is implanted through a minimally-invasive incision in the abdomen, after the painful, worn out disc is carefully removed.
Dr. Marnay, watched Rudin and Small perform two separate surgeries. At the end of the day, Marnay commented in a thick French accent, “looks perfect, you get an A+.”
The Prodisc is made of the same materials as other joint replacement implants, metal and polyethylene. These time-proven materials are what have been used in orthopedics for over three decades. The track record of these materials is very well established in the demanding environment of hip and knee replacements. Surgeons are able to replace an arthritic disc much like a typical hip or knee replacement.
While spinal fusion has traditionally been the treatment of choice for chronic back pain from damaged discs, the advent of artificial disc replacements, has allowed surgeons to avoid fusions and retain patient’s mobility. Compared to spinal fusion, artificial disc recipients recover faster, return to work sooner, and have far better mobility.
Artificial disc replacements have been used with tremendous success in Europe for over 15 years. In the US, with the approval of the Synthes Prodisc implant, surgeons are seeing the same benefits to patients as their overseas counterparts.
Patients who suffer from chronic low back pain, due to worn out discs are encouraged to ask their doctors about the procedure
or visit www.VenturaSpine.net for more information.
