Whale was presented with a prestigious Best New Spine Technology 2014 award. Tom Bishow, Vice President of Orthopedics This Month presented the award at a ceremony during the NASS 2014 conference in San Francisco.
This annual award rewards inventors, engineering teams, surgeons and their companies who’ve created the most innovative, enduring and practical products in 2014 to treat back pain.
The award highlighted the significant benefits that G-Arm provides surgeons. The Innovative G-Arm’s key attributes are:
Lower dose: Fewer corrective exposures means cumulative radiation can be minimized for patient and staff.
Less infection risk: Eliminating the need to alternate the detector plane decreases disruption of the sterile field
Reduced time: Faster placement due to live twin plane views decreases time lost moving the arm and repositioning between AP and lateral views.
Greater accuracy: XBeam technology enables better precision. Better placement makes revision less likely.
To win the Orthopedics This Week Best New Technology Award for spine care, a panel of surgeons score each submitted technology on a scale of 1 to 5 (5 being the highest score) for each of the following criteria:
1. Be creative and innovative.
2. Have long term significance to the problem of treating the diseases of the spine.Does this technology have staying power?
3. Solve a clinical problem. To what extent does this technology solve a current clinical problem or problem that is inadequately solved today?
4. Does it have the potential to improve standard of care?
5. Is it cost effective?
6. I would use it.
The distinguished panel of surgeon judges included:
Neel Anand, M.D.: Dr. Anand is the Director of Orthopaedic Spine Surgery at the CedarsSinai Institute for Spinal Disorders in Los Angeles and a frequent contributor to such peerreviewed publications as the Journal of Spinal Disorders, Journal of Orthopedic Trauma, Spine and the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery.
Scott Blumenthal, M.D.: Dr. Blumenthal is a leader in spinal arthroplasty and currently serves as a clinical assistant professor of orthopedic surgery at the University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas and is an ongoing contributor to the first nonprofit foundation created for arthroplasty patients. He also currently serves as a spine consultant for the Dallas Mavericks.
Alan Hilibrand, M.D.: Dr. Hilibrand is a Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Neurosurgery, as well as the Director of Medical Education for the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the Rothman Institute and Jefferson Medical College.
Daniel Riew, M.D.: Dr. Riew is the Mildred B. Simon Professor of Orthopedic Surgery; Dr. Riew is a professor of neurological surgery and Chief of the Surgical Spine Center and Director of the Cervical Spine Institute at the Washington University School of Medicine.
Rick Sasso, M.D.: Dr. Sasso is a founding member, and the president of Indiana Spine Group. He is the co medical director of the St. Vincent Spine Center, and a clinical associate professor and chief of spine surgery at the Indiana University School of Medicine, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery.