An almond-sized implant is being used to treat chronic low back pain.
The device, which takes just 20 minutes to insert near the base of the spine, is filled with donated bone cells.
These gradually break down over weeks and months to form strong, healthy bone that stabilizes the sacroiliac joints, some of the largest joints in the body, connecting the pelvis to the spine. Their job is to provide stability and act as shock absorbers for the back and pelvis.
But almost one in three cases of chronic low back pain in the UK is due to excess movement (or destabilization) in these joints. This is usually the result of inflammation from injury or the wear and tear of osteoarthritis, a joint disease.
With the new implant, healthy bone cells ‘fuse’ with the damaged joint, creating strong new bone that restores stability and relieves pain.
The new implant allows healthy bone cells to ‘fuse’ with the two sacroiliac joints that join the pelvis to the spine, creating strong new bone that restores stability and relieves pain.
The sacroiliac joints connect the hip bones to the sacrum at the bottom of the spine.
Reinforced with strong ligaments, these joints support the load of your upper body when you are standing, sitting, walking or jumping and also help with forward and backward bending.
If one or both joints become hypermobile (when the degree of movement is greater than it should be) or hypomobile (when there is very little movement), this can lead to chronic pain.
Hypermobility causes inflammation that affects the joint and surrounding nerves, while in hypomobility, often caused by osteoarthritis, the bones of the hip and sacrum rub against each other, causing pain.
Current treatments include steroid injections (to dampen inflammation), physical therapy, and pain relievers.
In severe cases, surgeons fuse the joints (the sacrum and hip) with metal implants to restrict excess movement. But it can take several weeks before patients can even stand properly after the operation.
The new implant, called LinQ Fusion System and tested at Rush University in Chicago (USA), could be a simpler and more effective alternative.
Doctors apply a local anesthetic to the lower back and make a half-inch incision to insert a thin “loading tube” into the sacroiliac joint.
The device is then secured in place before the tube is removed.
The results of a recent study published in the Journal of Pain Research, involving 159 patients with chronic low back pain between the ages of 21 and 70, showed that one year after implantation, pain levels had decreased by more than a 80 percent in about a third of patients.
Many others experienced a 50 percent reduction in pain.
Patient mobility also improved. At the start of the trial, 82.1 percent were severely disabled or bedridden. After the trial, none were bedridden and there was a three-fold reduction in severe disability.
Commenting on the research, Mike McNicholas, Consultant Orthopedic Surgeon at University Hospitals Liverpool, said: “Low back pain due to sacroiliac joint pathology is a huge burden on society. This promising minimally invasive approach offers great hope. to those who suffer from the problem and to their caregivers and families, who are also seriously affected.’
