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 BETTER SUPPORT FOR THE SCOLIOSIS PATIENT WITH NEW TECHNOLOGY AND DYNEEMA PURITY®
Project leader: Chris Arts, PhD
Maastricht University Medical Center
Budget: € 1.900.000
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Secured
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| Each year in the Netherlands alone, some 1,000 patients, mainly girls between the ages of 10 and 18, are diagnosed with scoliosis. Scoliosis is a complicated 3-D curvature of the spinal column that severely hinders functioning and can lower life expectancy. Scoliosis can cause breathing problems and pain. There are some 60,000 scoliosis patients in the Netherlands, but the disorder is difficult to treat. Treatment ranges from wearing a brace to undergoing very difficult, major operations in which a large number of vertebrae are secured together with metal rods, screws and cables. In that case, the spinal column can no longer move or grow. Young children, in particular, experience a lot of discomfort and have to undergo numerous operations to make corrections during growth. The physical limitations that are caused by the affliction or its treatment are drastic. Obviously, new surgical techniques with new materials that permit growth of the spinal column are greatly needed. |
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© BMM / Rogier Trompert Medical Art
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Growth and mobility
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| The Spineguide project focuses on a new, much less burdensome form of operation using a special medical variant of Dyneema® fibres as correction and fixation material for the recovery of abnormalities of the spinal column. Dyneema® is the world’s most powerful synthetic fibre and stronger than steel, with the possibility of gliding over the metal rods, thereby permitting growth of the spinal column. It is important that the spinal column can continue to grow, that corrections can be performed without major surgery and that the function and mobility of the spinal column can be retained as much as possible. Computer and other prototypes will be used to develop high-quality surgical techniques. The ultimate goal is to give patients a better quality of life thanks to ample and painless mobility and fewer repeat operations. |
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Partners
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the following companies and institutes work together to make a success of Spineguide:
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Thesis
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- Meijer, GJM. Development of a non-fusion scoliosis correction device : numerical modelling of scoliosis correction. Doctoral Thesis Twente University. 2011-10-14.
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Contact
BioMedical Materials
Urmonderbaan 20/A
NL-6167 RD GELEEN
NETHERLANDS
T +31 (46) 702 2280
E info@bmm-program.nl
Last updated on 2012-08-13