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Medtronic introduces minimally invasive spine fusion procedure at NASS

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Medtronic Inc. introduced a new approach to minimally invasive spinal fusion at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the North American Spine Society in Chicago.

The procedure, called MAST MIDLF, uses a proprietary retractor and cortical bone screw fixation in conjunction with Medtronic’s surgical platform of interbody, navigation, neuromonitoring and biologic options, according to a company press release. Called a midline laminectomy approach, the procedure enables a minimally invasive spinal fusion surgery, accessing the spine in the middle lower back and eliminates the surgeons’ need to work through a tubular retractor, according to the release.

“This surgical strategy enables a highly efficient, minimally invasive lumbar fusion, while allowing visualization of familiar posterior landmarks,” Richard A. Hynes, MD, FRCS, a spine surgeon at The B.A.C.K. Center, Melbourne, Fla., stated in the release. “A midline approach offers surgeons a number of benefits in addressing the challenges associated with decompression as well as sacral fixation in the lumbar or lower spine.”

According to information in the press release, the MAST MIDLF procedure may also be used with Medtronic’s current surgical navigation and imaging systems, which allows for decreased exposure to radiation for hospital staff and physicians, with improved accuracy of device placement to avoid injury to nerves.

The MIDLF procedure, as noted in the release, is the latest in a series of integrated procedural solutions that complement Medtronic’s spine minimally invasive MAST portfolio to treat patients for a variety of degenerative and deformity spine conditions.