The Cadisc-L from Ranier Technology is a polyurethane-polycarbonate graduated modulus spinal disc implant with physiological, progressive bending stiffness. The implant has a mobile centre of rotation for load sharing biomechanics and is well seen on MRI or x-ray. Ranier Technology was granted CE (Conformité Européenne) safety marks for Cadisc-L in 2010. According to https://www.theguardian.com, the devices, made by the now-defunct Ranier Technology, which was based in Cambridge, are the focus of legal action brought by prosecutors in Germany against a doctor who implanted them, allegedly without first obtaining fully informed patient consent.
Features:
- The surface of the implant has a macro- and micro-texture with a CaPO4 coating for osseo-integration.
- It has a graduated stiffness from nucleus to annulus, with no (debris generating) articulating components. Biomechanical testing shows that the unique nature of the Elastomimetic Cadisc-L provides a moving centre of rotation, mimicking the physiological characteristics of the natural disc, thus giving the potential for reduced adjacent segment degeneration
- Cadisc-L has no metal end-plates. Instead, the end plate surfaces, (which incorporate calcium phosphate-coated low-profile fixation ribs) are similar in modulus to the vertebral end-plates, with the potential to minimise stress shielding within the adjacent vertebrae.
- Tantalum markers, located on the end plates superiorly and inferiorly, allow for X-ray visualisation and optimal implant positioning is facilitated by the Surgeon-designed user friendly instrumentation.
About Ranier Technology
Ranier Technology, located in Cambridge, UK, is a medical device developer utilising its proprietary Precision Polyurethane Manufacturing (PPM) technology to bring next generation, motion preservation spinal implants to clinical use. Ranier Technology has been dissolved.