Over 600 Surgeons Certified to use TruFUSE(R) to Treat Back Pain...( Study Indicates 9...),Health

Study Indicates 90%+ Success Rate...

CLEARWATER, Fla., Nov. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- minSURG Corporation, a wholly- owned subsidiary of Orthopedic Development Corporation, announced today that it has certified over 600 surgeons in its TruFUSE spine fusion technique.

Over 400 spine surgeons were trained in the basic technique at the North American Spine Society (NASS) convention in Austin, TX last month.

"We believe that this milestone is a reasonable predictor that TruFUSE has the potential to achieve broad acceptance as an early stage surgical solution for back pain sufferers," said James Doulgeris, minSURG's president and CEO.

To support the increase in surgeon users, minSURG has added 21 new domestic regional spine distributors with over 300 additional sales representatives as of today, providing almost complete coverage in the U.S.

"We believe that refinements in the technique and instrumentation provide reliable results with minimum risk and recovery time for patients. That, in conjunction with excellent results from our first study prompted us to release TruFUSE for general distribution in the U.S.," Doulgeris continued.

The TruFUSE minimally invasive back pain alternative uses two small cork- shaped dowels, called allografts, made from human bone, to stop painful spinal facet joints from moving. The dowels are inserted with minimally invasive, minimally destructive techniques between facet joints in the back to stop movement and pain. The TruFUSE technique fills the large void between traditional non-surgical pain management and major surgery.

A retrospective chart review of 81 patients was performed revealing good to excellent pain relief in more than 90% of patients at six weeks postoperatively. Fewer than 5% of patients following up at three months continued to complain of severe pain. The most frequently encountered complication relates to dowel migration, which was observed in 8.6% of pati
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