Spinal device company TranS1, based in Denver, Colorado, has announced that the U.S. Patent and Trade Office has allowed three new patents for the company.
USPTO Allows Expandable Cage and Other Patents for TranS1
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#spine#spinesurgerySecondary#expandablecage#lordosis#sifusion#trans1#uspatentoffice
The patents, related to presacral interbody fusion, include two new expandable cages designed to create lordosis at L5-S1, along with a new technique to perform sacroiliac (SI) fusion.
“TranS1’s patent portfolio remains one of the strongest in the industry,” said Jeffrey Schell.
Schell, chief executive officer of TranS1, is also a patent attorney. “Our strategy remains to advance the most innovative technologies to lessen tissue trauma during spine surgery and to vigorously guard those technological innovations through domestic and international patent protection.”
According to the company, “TranS1 offers a full complement of minimally invasive surgery (MIS) solutions for spinal pathologies, including the award-winning Pylon posterolateral decortication and bone graft placement system, the KeyLIF MIS Oblique Lateral Interbody Fusion system and the AxiaLIF presacral interbody fusion system.”
“The AxiaLIF procedure allows for minimally invasive spinal fusion at L5-S1 for patients with certain spinal pathologies. Presacral interbody fusion at L5-S1 was awarded a Category 1 CPT Code (22586) in 2013 by the American Medical Association’s CPT Editorial Committee. According to the CPT Editorial Panel, procedures recognized as Category 1 are widely performed throughout the United States, consistent with accepted medical practice and supported by relevant published research demonstrating the clinical efficacy of the procedure.”
Jeff Schell told OTW, “The most interesting part of the process was working with regular AxiaLIF+ users to devise new technologies that better address persistent problems at L5-S1. The most challenging part of the process is incorporating considerations of who is infringing on our current patent portfolio & deploying strategies to create strong disincentives for further patent infringement.”
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This is a fascinating development. In my practice we've seen similar outcomes with the revised protocol. The key differentiator seems to be patient selection criteria. Has anyone else noticed the correlation with BMI thresholds?
Great point. I'd push back slightly on the conclusion, the sample size in the cited study is too small to draw population-level inferences. That said, the directional signal is compelling and worth a larger RCT.
We implemented a similar approach last year. Early results are promising but we're still gathering 12-month follow-up data. Happy to share our protocol if anyone is interested.
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