Medicrea has announced that Dr Vincent Fiere at the Hospital Jean Mermoz in Lyon, France, has performed the world’s first spinal fusion surgery using customized spine cages created with a 3-D printer.
Accordign to Medicrea, the company’s UNiD anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF) customization service exactly reproduces the anatomic details of a patient’s vertebral plates.
The UNiD ALIF extends Medicrea’s UNiD platform, following the launch of the UNiD pre-curved osteosynthesis rod service in Europe earlier 2014.
The UNiD ALIF customized cages are made of poly ether ketone ketone. These cages have been developed with the support of specific softwares and advanced imaging.
Medicrea has developed the UNiD ALIF intersomatic anatomical inter-body device from a 3-D digital file created from the extraction and treatment of pre-operatory scanner images of the patient.
Medicrea president and CEO Denys Sournac said that continuing the company’s trajectory since the launch of its PASS LP UNiD rods which are made to measure for each patient, the company confirms its position as the pioneer of intelligent spinal implants, perfectly adapted to the morphology of each patient’s spinal column and developed in a rational and planned manner to restore the fundamental mechanical equilibrium of the human body.
"By providing pre-planned customization, our goal is to improve patient outcomes and allow our surgeons customers to complete their plans in advance and solely focus on executing their strategy in the OR," Sournac added.