Award Winning Poster is One of Over Fifteen Kyphoplasty Posters and Oral Presentations Presented at SpineWeek 2004 in Porto, Portugal
SUNNYVALE, Calif., June 9, 2004 – Kyphon Inc., a global leader in minimally invasive spinal therapies, today announced that the Spine Society of Europe (SSE) awarded top honors to a clinical poster on Balloon Kyphoplasty during SpineWeek 2004, a combined meeting of leading scientific spine societies that took place in Porto, Portugal from May 30 to June 5, 2004.
Dr. Isador Lieberman, an orthopedic and spine surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH, earned the Best SSE Clinical Science Poster Award for his study assessing the clinical outcomes of Balloon Kyphoplasty in a prospective group of 63 consecutive patients with 264 vertebral body fractures. The poster concluded that the procedure is associated with early and sustained clinical improvement in pain and function in patients with vertebral body collapse.
“I am honored to have our research recognized by the SSE, and am gratified that the panel of judges appreciates the substantial role that kyphoplasty plays in the practice of spine surgery,” remarked Dr. Lieberman. “Kyphoplasty provides an important therapeutic alternative to those patients who have few options when debilitated by pain and are immobile due to the ramifications of spinal fractures.
“In our practice at the Cleveland Clinic, we are able to deliver significant clinical outcomes to patients using the Balloon Kyphoplasty technique with minimal risk of morbidity. Considering our experience with these results, I now advocate early treatment of collapsing vertebral bodies as a means of addressing the debilitating effects that these fractures have on patients,” he concluded.
Dr. Lieberman’s poster was one of over fifteen Balloon Kyphoplasty posters and oral presentations presented at SpineWeek 2004. In total, the meeting detailed clinical outcomes from over 900 patients receiving kyphoplasty to address spinal fractures.
Other kyphoplasty posters presented included a study conducted by Dr. Jon Ledlie, a neurosurgeon at Tyler Neurosurgical Associates, Tyler, TX, that investigated the impact of kyphoplasty on vertebral fracture morphology. The prospective study of 138 fractures in 108 patients with a mean follow-up of over 15 months concluded that kyphoplasty decreases the severity of deformity in fractured vertebral bodies.
“I am encouraged by the substantial support Kyphon received from the global community of spine surgeons at SpineWeek 2004,” commented Richard Mott, President and Chief Executive Officer of Kyphon. “The powerful posters presented by Dr. Lieberman, Dr. Ledlie, and several other leading surgeons throughout the world support our belief that Balloon Kyphoplasty can deliver significant clinical value to patients with spinal fractures. Also importantly, I believe that the prominent role that kyphoplasty played at SpineWeek 2004 is evidence that Kyphon is rapidly becoming a recognized leader in providing innovative spinal fracture therapies.”