In a webinar hosted by Becker's Healthcare on Feb. 24, Richard Kube, MD, founder and CEO, Prairie Spine & Pain Institute, Peoria, Ill., and Vincent Zeringue, practice development consultant and president at Vincent Zeringue & Associates in New York, discussed interlaminar stabilization for lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS).
"This degenerative condition often requires surgical intervention, and more than 600,000 lumbar stenosis sufferers opt for surgery every year," he says. "Procedures for stenosis are typically very successful."
While conservative treatments can provide short term relief, they aren't long-term solutions. "If you are 65 years old, you don't want a treatment that will provide relief for only a year or so," says Dr. Kube. "You want treatment that will last for the next 15 to 20 years."
Current treatment approaches for LSS include decompression alone or decompression with fusion. Both options have benefits and drawbacks. Ideally, a treatment solution for LSS addresses all symptoms including leg and back pain, as well as preserve natural kinematics.
One such solution is the coflex Interlaminar Stabilization device from Paradigm Spine, which offers non-fusion interlaminar stabilization as well as motion preservation.
The investigational device exemption trial for the coflex device, which included a large amount of level 1 data and 95 percent follow-up at two years, showed the device was effective and safe. The coflex device had faster and more lasting symptom relief at a lower cost than fusion in addition to shorter hospital length of stay and less blood loss. Additionally, interlaminar stabilization with coflex has proven to reduce operating time and has allowed patients to return to normal activities more quickly.
"This implant can give patients a high-value, non-fusion alternative for the treatment of spinal stenosis," says Dr. Kube. With the move toward value-based reimbursement, tomorrow's healthcare model will be driven by procedures with low complication rates and low costs, while maintaining excellent outcomes, such as the coflex procedure.
However, introducing new innovative technologies can be challenging, particularly when it comes to gaining coverage from payers.
"High-value, innovation in healthcare is the combination of high-quality outcomes at appropriate cost," says Mr. Zeringue. "When innovation is introduced in practice, you often have the need to introduce the innovation to the payers so that they are aware of how you will use the technology to improve care for their customers, that is, patient outcomes."
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