Active clinical trials for "Intervertebral Disc Degeneration"

In this study, we apply brain MR imaging techniques at 3 Tesla to assess pain-relevant processing in patients with disc degenerative disease (DDD) scheduled for back surgery and age- and gender-matched controls without back pain. Data collection pre-surgery is performed over two days: On the first day, all participants undergo a battery of questionnaires relevant for individuals with chronic pain and pain sensitivity testing, including temporal summation and pressure pain thresholds. On the second day, participants undergo a MRI protocol, which includes functional MRI (fMRI) and diffusion tensor imaging to assess microstructural properties and structural connectivity. During fMRI, an experimental pressure pain paradigm is performed at the calf i.e. a location not connected to patients' chronic pain condition. Instead, the experimental pain paradigm serves as a condition to test processing of noxious stimulation unrelated to patients' experienced chronic pain. The noxious input pressure is individually calibrated to 50 on a 0-100 VAS scale to ensure that individual pain perceptions, despite different pressure intensities, are comparable across participants. The sensory stimulation will consist of a low standardized pressure intensity (150kPa). In an additional fMRI paradigm, participants do not receive stimulation but are instructed to continuously rate fluctuating spontaneous ongoing back pain (DDD) or perceived unpleasantness (controls). This project aims at investigating measures of brain architecture, neural response connected with evoked pain, connectivity (structural and functional) and pain-relevant psychometrics and questionnaire data in disc degenerative disease patients scheduled for back surgery. Specifically, MRI is performed to test whether i) patients display differences in properties of the mesolimbic circuit compared to healthy individuals and ii) behavioural as well as clinical characteristics related to the acquired MRI markers. This study is intended to serve as a baseline in a longitudinal project testing associations with between findings at baseline and following surgery (fusion/disc implants).

This is a prospective, multi-center controlled observational clinical study. All subjects will receive Titan Endoskeleton TT/TO acid etched titanium implant for the planned procedure. Each site will have a predetermined bonegraft extender to be used in all enrolled subjects at that site.

A multi-center, prospective, observational patient registry to collect information on the clinical outcomes and "real world" use of approved and commercially available bone graft substitutes, autograft and allograft.

In this study, we will use advanced and newly available MR imaging techniques at 3 Tesla (including in situ axial loading and quantitative T1rho, T2, and diffusion measurements) to assess the intervertebral discs and adjacent vertebrae in patients with lumbar back pain scheduled for back surgery (n=20), patients with degenerative disease without classic discogenic back pain (n=10), patients who had discectomies for herniated discs (n=5), and age-matched volunteers without back pain (n=10). In all patients standard imaging procedures will also be performed, including radiographs, standard MRI at 1.5 Tesla and discography. All patients will have specimen of the intervertebral disc harvested at surgery and pathologic analysis and spectroscopy of these specimen will be performed. Post-surgical findings/outcome combined with discography will serve as a standard of reference for the identification of the painful disc(s). The diagnostic performance of the new techniques in assessing the painful disc will be evaluated. We will collect disc specimens from 50 patients undergoing back surgery but did not have pre-surgical MR imaging. These disc specimens will be analyzed in the same manner as the specimens collected from surgical patients who had pre-surgical MRI. This study will serve as a pilot study for a larger project focusing on advanced imaging of the painful intervertebral disc. We hypothesis that advanced, dedicated MR examinations at 3T can identify painful degenerated discs in patients with chronic lumbar back pain.

The overall goal of this clinical study is to characterize the fusion rate of geneX® ds bone graft substitute in comparison to autograft, which is considered the gold standard for posterolateral fusion. Assessments are made using AP and Lateral x-rays, F/E x-rays, and CT scans geneX® ds has been cleared by the FDA for use in these procedures; however this study will allow more detailed characterization of geneX® ds performance in the long-term (1 year). By using the patient as their own control, direct comparison to autograft can be performed while minimizing other variables.

A safety and feasibility study of free-run and stimulated corporal electromyography (EMG) to assess autonomic neural function during spinal and/or pelvic surgery in women and men.

This study is a post-market clinical follow-up study. The data collected from this study will serve the purpose of confirming safety and performance of the ALTERA™ Expandable implant.

The purpose of this study is to assess clinical and radiographic outcomes in patients who undergo three-level oblique lateral lumbar interbody fusion (OLIF) using ViBone, demineralized bone matrix (DBM), and bone morphogenetic protein (BMP). One product will be used on each level. Subjects will be followed for 12 months following surgery to assess degree of mineralization via computed tomography (CT) scan at 6 and 12 months, mean time to fusion, and maturation of fusion mass postoperatively via x-ray radiograph.

As a registry, the primary objective of the study is a data collection initiative. The study will collect clinical and radiographic outcomes of patients implanted with Medicrea's PSR. The secondary objective is to collect clinical and radiographic outcomes of patients with Medicrea hardware as a control cohort to the patient-specific rods.

The five-repetition sit-to-stand test has been validated and is used primarily in pulmonary medicine and cardiology, and has recently been shown to be a useful tool for the objective assessment of functional impairment in patients with degenerative diseases of the lumbar spine. The goal of this study is to assess the possibility of supervised and unsupervised at-home-assessment. Validation of at-home-assessment would allow the 5R-STS to be easily used as a follow-up tool in clinical trials, for example.