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Suggest Alternative Materials For L4/5 Fusion
Question: I need L4/5 fusion, but am allergic to titanium, including vanadium. Are there alternative materials for the hardware?
Brief Answer:
There are plastic alternatives.
Detailed Answer:
I read your question carefully and I understand your concern.
Fortunately titanium is not the only version. There are also plastic versions, which have the added advantage of being made of biodegradable polymers, meaning that after providing stability long enough for the fusion process to happen they are gradually resorbed over the months. They also do not cause artifacts like titanium on follow up imaging.
I suppose there must be different brands in the market, brands, prices and availability might vary from one country to the other. I am including a link a the site for one of them so that you can see an example of how they look and work, but this is only as an example, I am by no means suggesting that this particular brand is better than others.
http://www.YYYY.com/Products/spine/YYYY_folder/en_GB/YYYY_S-2_system/
I hope to have been of help.
There are plastic alternatives.
Detailed Answer:
I read your question carefully and I understand your concern.
Fortunately titanium is not the only version. There are also plastic versions, which have the added advantage of being made of biodegradable polymers, meaning that after providing stability long enough for the fusion process to happen they are gradually resorbed over the months. They also do not cause artifacts like titanium on follow up imaging.
I suppose there must be different brands in the market, brands, prices and availability might vary from one country to the other. I am including a link a the site for one of them so that you can see an example of how they look and work, but this is only as an example, I am by no means suggesting that this particular brand is better than others.
http://www.YYYY.com/Products/spine/YYYY_folder/en_GB/YYYY_S-2_system/
I hope to have been of help.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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