What keeps the INFUSEĀ® Bone Graft/LT-CAGEĀ® Device from growing bone in other places in my body?michelson=yep
Bone morphogenetic protein (the INFUSE® Bone Graft/LT-CAGE® Device) must be administered at a specific concentration to produce bone. The protein is placed onto a special sponge that allows the protein to be placed in the exact area where bone production is needed.
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The INFUSE® Bone Graft/LT-CAGE® Device will only stimulate bone formation under specific circumstances, and only when present at a certain concentration. These criteria will only be met at the site of surgery where the INFUSE® Bone Graft/LT-CAGE® Device is implanted. Bone formation remote from the site of implantation has not been seen in the clinical trials with the LT-CAGE® Lumbar Tapered Fusion Device.
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The INFUSE® Bone Graft/LT-CAGE® Device is a combination product. There's a collagen sponge, and then there's the bone protein that's dripped onto it. In general, it is the sponge that keeps the protein from being absorbed by the body and that keeps bone from growing in other places in the body.
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BMP2 acts locally: the collagen sponge holds on the BMP and releases it just in the local environment where the surgery was performed.
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Bone only grows where the INFUSE® Bone Graft/LT-CAGE® Device is placed and then it only grows in response to loading and the appropriate stresses being placed upon it.
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That is a great question. The only way that the INFUSE® Bone Graft/LT-CAGE® Device can work is when used in a critical concentration. That is the reason the protein is absorbed into a sponge and then placed in an LT-CAGE® Device. The cage protects it from becoming compressed and keeps a critical concentration of the active protein immediately in the area so that the vertebrae and the bleeding can work together to form bone. If you look at the surrounding area around the vertebrae, the concentration of the protein drops off so dramatically that it essentially has no effect. So there is no circulation of blood concentration of the protein and there is no concentration of it outside of the area. Therefore, you need a certain concentration of the INFUSE® Bone Graft/LT-CAGE® Device and have to maintain that concentration for several days for the protein to work. It works very nicely in the immediate fusion area but has essentially no effect outside the placement of the cages.
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The bone growth protein is placed on a special collagen sponge and encased in a carrier. The carrier is meant to keep the product localized to the area needed.
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Any of the bone forming protein that drips off the carrier sponge washes out of the body within a few minutes. Bone only forms where the carrier sponge is placed.
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The INFUSE® Bone Graft/LT-CAGE® Device is applied with what is called a carrier. And this carrier is what keeps the INFUSE® Bone Graft/LT-CAGE® Device localized to one area and it helps prevent it from getting to other parts of the body.
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The special protein in the INFUSE® Bone Graft/LT-CAGE® Device only works locally at the surgical site. If any leaks away or gets into your blood stream it will not have any affects anywhere else.
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Important Safety Information
The commentary above recounts the experiences of these physicians. Medtronic invited them to share their stories candidly. Keep in mind that results vary; not every patient's response is the same. Talk with your doctor to learn more about any products that are mentioned above.
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