OrtoWay Updates Hydraulic Distractor, Opens New German Subsidiary

OrtoWay AB, producer of the first hydraulically powered distractor, the OrtoWell, has announced an update to the product design. The OrtoWell can be used in anterior and posterior procedures and unilaterally or bilaterally. The hydraulic control allows for “smoother, gentler, and more controlled separation of vertebral bodies.” The surgeon can adjust the amount of distraction without touching the distractors themselves, allowing for less unintended forces exerted at the surgical site. Additionally, soft tissue retractors can be attached to the distractors directly to provide a wide surgical area and to bring the spine closer to the surface during open procedures.

During spine surgery, especially for degenerative conditions, separating the vertebral bodies is required to restore vertebral height and making space for an interbody device. Distraction can help to relieve pressure on the spinal cord or nerve roots by indirect decompression, too. The rack-and-pinion distractor is the gold-standard design for surgical distraction and nearly identical designs are available from many manufacturers. With these devices distraction is achieved by turning a knob to expand the device. Distractors can also be used to reduce the space between vertebral bodies after interbody devices have been inserted, or for deformity correction.

The OrtoWell is currently the subject of clinical research in Germany, the results of which are expected to provide sufficient data to bolster entry to the U.S. market. “This is truly the next generation of OrtoWell® and will allow spinal surgeons new surgical options such as use in MIS,” says OrtoWay CEO, Stan Mikulowski. He also announced the opening of the Stockholm, Sweden-based company’s German subsidiary, OrtoWay GmbH, near Tuttlingen, Germany, “To satisfy the stringent demands of German spinal clinics and hospitals.” Mikulowski believes that the OrtoWell is well suited for many surgical applications and “it puts new choices in [Surgeons’] hands, opening time-saving possibility for everything from spinal corpectomies and lumbar disc prosthesis to tumor removal, ALIF cages, minimally invasive surgery and revisits.” The OrtoWell is currently CE marked, and is currently approved as a Class I Medical Device in the U.S.