Spine fusion instrumentation
The role of spine fusion instrumentation is to provide
additional spinal stability while helping the fusion
set up.
Various forms of instrumentation (medical devices)
have been developed with the goal of improving the
rates of successful spinal fusion. Because bone tends
to fuse more effectively in an environment where there
is little motion, instrumentation helps the fusion
set up by limiting the motion at the fused segment.
There are three primary types of spine surgery instrumentation:
pedicle screws and anterior interbody cages, and posterior
lumbar cages.
-
Pedicle screws
provide a means of gripping onto a vertebral segment
and limiting its motion.
-
Anterior interbody
cages are devices that are made to be inserted
into the lumbar disc space through an anterior
(from the front) approach. They can be made
of allograft bone, titanium, or carbon/PEEK
(radiolucent cages) (see Figure
1).
- Posterior lumbar cages are also made to be inserted
into the lumbar disc space, but are modified to be
inserted through a posterior (from the back) approach.
They can be made out of the same materials as an
anterior cage.
By: Peter
F. Ullrich, Jr., MD
September 8, 1999 (Updated
January 20, 2004)
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