GLG News by Physicians who Perform Spine Surgery (US)

Medtronic might see a significant drop in its sales as a result of closer scrutiny of off-label use of its products.  Infuse has been a cash cow for Medtronic, and if sales drop, it will reflect deeply in the sales numbers.

Prostate cancer can be treated by Cyberknife, and the numbers of patients treated and the number of units sold by Accuray (ARAY:NASDAQ) will very likely increase dramatically over the next 5-10 years. 

The data presented by multiple professional societies does not lend clinical support of many Medtronic products in the Medicare population.  The data does not support the use of disc arthroplasty in the Medicare population, and does not find any clinical advantage of kyphoplasty over vertebroplasty. ...

New electrode will increase the capabilities of the Advance device from Neurometrix, potentially leading to more sales of the disposable electrodes The increased capabilities may also increase the number of practicioners interested in the Advance system, generating more sales for the company

The cost of proton beam installations is massive, and is not justified in light of available litterature regarding the superiority of this therapy. There are only a handful of tumors, such as chordoma, where the proton beam therapy is recommended over other types of radiation.  The higher compensation...

Aricept, Namenda, Risperdal are grossly overused in the treatment of patients with suspected dementia Many patients with dementia have not received proper diagnosis, and do not receive proper treatment Better public and medical education will hopefully reverse this glaring deficit in our medical sy...

Alphatec product line will expand and increase their market share The cervical plate from Progressive is much more promising than the Trestle plate developed by Alphatec, and should increase sales and improve the cervical implant portfolio

the use of Vertex polyaxial screws is only a minor part of the spinal implant protfolio at Medtronic (MDT:NYSE).  This should not affect the bottom line to any significant extent.

-The new regulations will probably result in quality improvement in the selected targeted areas -It is unclear whether the cost of implementation and monitoring will offset the savings to the medicare system -Medicare will likely introduce further quality measures to fall under similar payment cuts. ...

If back pain persists, the patient should be referred to a specialist so further diagnosis and workup can be undertaken.  Patients with back pain are treated with a variety of interventions and medications in the hope that they will return to their normal activities.  Too often, the initial...