CareFusion, a provider of vertebroplasty medical devices, has launched a minimally invasive device AVAmax Vertebral Balloon for use during kyphoplasty, a procedure for treating spinal compression fractures.
CareFusion provides new AVAmax Vertebral Balloon system with needles, bone cement and delivery instruments for both kyphoplasty and vertebroplasty, giving doctors a choice and flexibility to perform either procedure at the time of patient care.
In addition, the AVAmax Plus vertebral augmentation system, used with the AVAmax Vertebral Balloon to deliver cement, has features that allow the radiologist’s hands to be out of the radiation field, making the procedure safer for the clinician.
During a kyphoplasty, a small balloon is used to create a cavity in the vertebral body and ultimately deliver bone cement in that cavity. A vertebroplasty does not include the use of a surgical balloon to deliver the bone cement.
CareFusion offers a full line of products that address both vertebroplasty and balloon kyphoplasty, the two primary approaches to treat spinal compression fractures by delivering bone cement into the vertebral space with specialized needles.
David Schlotterbeck, chairman and CEO of CareFusion, said: “Adding the AVAmax Vertebral Balloon to our existing offering is another example of CareFusion’s commitment to developing products that help lower the cost and improve the safety of health care. Our entry into the kyphoplasty market builds upon our existing leadership in vertebroplasty and provides physicians with a less expensive way to treat spinal compression fractures by reducing waste of unused components between the two procedures.”
Wade Wong, professor of radiology, a division of Interventional Neuroradiology at the University of California, San Diego, said: “Stabilizing spinal fractures caused by osteoporosis through kyphoplasty or vertebroplasty is a mainstay of treatment. However it may be difficult for doctors to predict which procedure to perform until they see the current state of the fracture once in the procedure room.”