What do you do if you have an idea to make a procedure faster, safer, and more effective? That question led Inspired Spine Chief Medical Officer, and surgeon, Hamid Abbasi, M.D., Ph.D., to try to get his idea in front of a device manufacturer a few years ago. After six months without a response he began to look for other options. His search resulted in a collaboration with Advanced Research Medical, LLC. to develop the procedures, and devices, themselves, transforming Inspired Spine into a total spinal health provider.
The company’s most recent development is a compact instrument and implant system for performing sacroiliac (SI) joint fusion, called Trident. The SI joint, due to its low mobility and difficulty in properly diagnosing it as a pain generator, has long been ignored as a source of back pain.
Within the last few years, however, the paradigm has shifted largely thanks to vocal proponents and improved diagnostic techniques, and research that has implicated the SI joint in up to 23% of low back pain and 43% of low back pain in patients who have received a prior lumbar fusion. The SI joint fusion device environment has become congested as device manufacturers develop or acquire the technology.
Earlier in 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) enacted a 27% increase in the reimbursement rate for the procedure, providing even more incentive for surgeons to seek out SI joint fusion solutions.
The Trident™ Sacroiliac Joint Fusion System reduces the number of specialized instruments and procedural steps significantly, allowing for a faster and simpler procedure. The device consists of a large cannulated and fenestrated main screw. The delivery sleeve and driver has integrated guides through which side screws and drivers are inserted. The device allows for a lateral to medial approach through a single incision and working channel, rather than up to 3 incisions and channels required for other SI joint fusion systems.
