OR-Live.com Presents: Total Disc Replacement Using the SB Charite Artificial Disc -- A New Option for Patients Facing Spinal Fusion Surgery

Live Webcast: Wednesday, January 26, 2005, 4 pm EST

Americans work hard and play hard, and as a result, more than 75 percent of Americans suffer from back pain at some point in their lives. Young people push their bodies at the gym and on the fields and baby boomers are opting to continue being active as they get older. As a result of this trend, joint replacement surgeries of the knee and hip have become commonplace, yet many people live with and tolerate back pain. These back pain sufferers now have a revolutionary new treatment option. An emerging type of spinal surgery, called total disk replacement, has shown great promise in clinical trials and has recently gained full FDA approval for a prosthetic disk used in the procedure. Total disk replacement, used for treatment of degenerative disk disease, involves removing the deteriorated disk from between the vertebrae and implanting an artificial disk made of metal and plastic. The SB Charite Artificial Disc http://www.charitedisc.com/charitedev/domestic/default.asp)"> was one of the most popular artificial discs among European spinal surgeons since the 1980s, resulting in pain relief and restored mobility for thousands of patients.

Fabien Bitan, MD http://www.docnet.org/physicians/phys_bios.asp?phys_id=327)">, principal investigator for the SB Charite FDA clinical trial at The Spine Institute at Beth Israel Medical Center http://www.spineinstituteny.com/)"> in Manhattan, took part in the first artificial disk surgery with this disk in France in 1986. Dr. Bitan has been instrumental in sharing this innovative procedure with his colleagues, and in the last four years, he and his fellow surgeons have performed approximately 80 disk replacements during clinical trials, with Dr. Bitan performing more cases than any spine surgeon in the Northeast. The Spine Institute of New York at Beth Israel Medical Center was fortunate to be one of the leading FDA investigational sites for this landmark study, and will serve as the training ground for all area spine surgeons who want to learn the technique.

"It's not for everyone, but I do think it's the future," says Dr. Bitan. "We're really getting into a new era in spine surgery and it's very exciting."

Visit http://www.or-live.com/bethisrael/1245 now to learn more and view a video preview. A VNR is available at http://www.or-live.com/rams/chp-1245-mkw-q.ram

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