Every second of the day, someone in the world is experiencing acute back pain. Most of the time, the pain goes away and surgery is not required. But when it is, spinal surgeons need the best possible tools to ensure safe and effective outcomes. One key challenges is to gently separate and firmly hold apart the vertebral bodies to allow for accurate positioning of an implant. OrtoWay is making this easier.
From the very start, the needs of hardworking spinal surgeons in the operating room have been firmly in focus. This is largely due to the fact that the company is the brainchild of a team of Swedish spinal surgeons, biomaterial and MedTech experts. When performing surgery, they too often found it difficult and time-consuming to gently and reliably separate and hold apart vertebral bodies to allow freedom of movement and accurate positioning – without using excessive force.
The breakthrough innovation
To solve this issue, they developed the OrtoWell® Distractor, the world’s first hydraulically powered distractor – a welcome alternative to handheld “lumbar” distractors and clamps. With its robust steel frame and spanners, the Distractor enables smooth, incremental hydraulic decompression. This, in turn, facilitates safer, quicker, less complicated removal of damaged discs, implantation of disc prostheses or ALIF cages and repositioning following initial or revision surgery.
“A successful tool for many aspects of spinal surgery such as lumbar total disc replacement, scoliosis, tumor cases, corpectomy and ALIF cages.”
Senior Vascular Surgeon and Co-inventor of OrtoWell®
Over the years, early prototypes have been successively refined and developed into what today is a robust, third-generation device, manufactured in Germany to world-class standards. Currently, the OrtoWell® Distractor is certified for use in Europe (CE Mark) and the US (Class 1 Medical Device) and can be used with any type of prosthetic. It has been successfully used by leading clinics in up to 50 surgeries and has shown strong potential.
Published clinical case and research
In 2018, ISASS Toronto (Canada) published a clinical abstract where the Distractor was successfully used for vertical bodies spine inflammation with need for 2-level corpectomy, vertebral body replacement and fusion. In 2020, the OrtoWell Distractor was name “The Most Advanced Vertebrae Separation System” in its category. A multi-site clinical study is ongoing in Germany.