Principal Investigators: Gary S. Beaupré, PhD and Derek P. Lindsey, MS Investigator: Scott A. Yerby, PhD Project Category: Spinal Cord Injury - 2005 Spinal stenosis is a debilitating disorder, which, in severe cases, compresses the spinal cord, causes pain and retards physical function. A novel spinal implant to provide distraction of the spinous processes and increase the area of the spinal canal is being tested. The intent is to decompress the affected stenotic levels of the spinal column and in turn relieve pain. The emphasis of this project is mechanical testing of a novel spinal implant and its effects on the biomechanics in a cadaveric spine. A mechanical testing system (MTS) with spinal units that apply flexion and extension was used to load a 4-level (L2-L5) spinal segment before and after insertion of the spinal implant. In terms of kinematics the implant placed the instrumented level in slight flexion and prevented extension, while the adjacent levels were not significantly affected. Also, the loads at the facet joints were measured using pressure-sensitive film and found to decrease after insertion at the instrumented level and were unchanged at adjacent levels. Recent Publications: Fuchs PD, Lindsey DP, Hsu KY, Zucherman JF, Yerby SA. The use of an interspinous implant in conjunction with a graded facetectomy procedure. Spine. 2005 Jun 1;30(11):1266-72. Talwar V, Lindsey DP, Fredrick A, Hsu KY, Zucherman JF, Yerby SA. Insertion loads of the X STOP interspinous process distraction system designed to treat neurogenic intermittent claudication. Eur Spine J. 2005 May 31. Wiseman CM, Lindsey DP, Fredrick AD, Yerby SA. The effect of an interspinous process implant on facet loading during extension. Spine. 2005 Apr 15;30(8):903-7. Richards JC, Majumdar S, Lindsey DP, Beaupre GS, Yerby SA. The treatment mechanism of an interspinous process implant for lumbar neurogenic intermittent claudication. Spine. 2005 Apr 1;30(7):744-9. Funding Source: St. Francis Medical Technologies Funding Status: Completed
|
