Is it real or is it Memorex?

Today, Globus Medical announced that it had received commercial approval to launch the Coalition Anterior Cervical Discectomy Spacer System (CACDSS). Pronounced Cactus, I'll take the licensing fee for that name. I thought I would make the Globus Product Director happy with that acronym. Globus claims that it reduces procedural steps, minimizes retraction, and lags the spacer to the endplates to compressively load the fusion area. Have we ever lacked compression when considering the weight of the average human head? The Spine Blogger is not one to argue with success, nor, can we criticize David considering that without knowing the aspects of the sealed documents in the Synthes litigation, he slew Goliath (aka; Hansjoerg Wyss). Shame on you Hansjoerg, we never thought you would roll over that easy. Yet, how much more dirt can an organization kick at another company when Globus has one of its CONSULTING SURGEONS quoted as stating this implant provides the surgeon's patients with a" Zero-Profile" offering. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, I know, this is an interesting implant, yet, the Spine Blogger must ask, with roughly a 90-96% fusion rate in Anterior Cervical Discectomies are these devices enhancing fusion? Is this device making the surgery any simpler? The biggest complaint that we have heard from most surgeons that have used the lumbar and cervical versions of this device is that so far the instruments and the angles for screw placement do not make these implants that simple to insert. Like any other product, the Spine Blogger would argue that there is a learning curve. In addition, dysphagia is a by product of many factors. One of them may be that doctors are now trying to drive an Aircraft Carrier through the Lincoln Tunnel.

But here is the bigger question, has Globus really designed anything different? Before Synthes and Globus there was a German company by the name of Bricon that had come up with this concept. We have always argued that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The Spine Blogger wants to know what its readers believe. Is this really making a difference or are we just re-inventing the wheel so that we could charge hospitals more money?