UNiD Patient-Specific Rod for Spinal Deformities

Author: NYU Langone Medical Center / New York University School of Medicine
Published: 2014/12/10 - Updated: 2026/01/11
Publication Details: Peer-Reviewed, Announcement
Category Topic: Spinal Cord Injury - Related Publications

Page Content: Synopsis - Introduction - Main - Insights, Updates

Synopsis: This article reports on a significant advancement in spinal surgery: the first U.S. implantation of a customized osteosynthesis rod designed pre-operatively to correct severe scoliosis. Performed at NYU Langone Medical Center, this procedure utilized the UNiD rod, manufactured by Medicrea, which allows for precise spinal realignment tailored to the patient's anatomy. This innovation enhances surgical accuracy, reduces operating time, and may decrease the likelihood of revision surgeries, marking a notable progression in personalized spinal treatment - Disabled World (DW).

Introduction

In early November, NYU Langone Medical Center became the first hospital in the U.S. to implant a patient with a new customized osteosynthesis rod precisely designed and manufactured pre-operatively to properly realign the individual's spine, which had been severely deformed from scoliosis since childhood.

Main Content

Frank J. Schwab, MD. , a clinical professor in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery and director of the Spinal Deformity Service at NYU Langone, performed the procedure. He has subsequently performed two additional procedures since the first successful implantation.

The device, named UNiD and manufactured by Medicrea of Lyon, France, offers a personalized medicine approach to spinal osteosynthesis. A surgeon uses a dedicated software platform to pre-operatively analyze a patient's spine from radiographic images, and then can simulate surgical correction in order to determine the ideal bend of the two rods that will be implanted. Based on the physician's plan for the patient's specific anatomy, the rods are produced in titanium or cobalt chromium alloy with industrial precision and delivered, ready to be implanted.

Before this innovation, surgeons had to physically bend metal rods in the operating room with plier-like devices while eyeballing the patient's scans.

The new approach enables the surgeon to more reliably obtain precise realignment of the spine, and save time in the operating room. In addition, a more customized rod implant may reduce the need for costly revision surgeries that are sometimes required to correct the surgeries where the rods were initially bent incorrectly.

"Even the most experienced spine surgeons sometimes have to perform revision surgeries to correct an initial procedure," says Dr. Schwab. "Surgically implanting rods that are already individualized to the patient could go a long way in improving outcomes." Dr. Schwab is also President, CEO and co-founder of Nemaris Inc., developer of Surgimap Spine, the dedicated surgical planning software platform that doctors use to plan the desired contour of the UNiD rods.

"This milestone in spinal surgery demonstrates NYU Langone's unwavering commitment to bringing patients the most cutting-edge, individualized treatments designed to advance the field of orthopedic surgery," says Dr. Joseph Zuckerman, Walter A.L. Thompson Professor of Orthopedic Surgery and Chair of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at NYU Langone Medical Center. "As a leader in the field of spinal surgery, we're pleased that Dr. Schwab is one of the first surgeons to use this advanced technology that may change the way we perform these types of procedures in the future."

Spine surgery is sometimes a recommended treatment to relieve pain, disability, weakness, numbness, and other symptoms caused by spinal deformities like scoliosis, kyphosis or age-related wear and tear of the disks and vertebra that deform the spine.

For these procedures, a surgeon creates a fusion between the affected vertebra and devices like metal rods to correct the curvature angles and stabilize and appropriately realign the spine, thereby reducing symptoms.

UNiD received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on November 10, 2014 prior to the first U.S. implantation. The device has been used in Europe since September 2013. Dr. Schwab is the founder/CEO, board member, and a significant equity holder of Nemaris, Inc., developer of Surgimap Spine, the dedicated software platform used by Medicrea in this new device.

Insights, Analysis, and Developments

Editorial Note: The UNiD system represents something of a watershed moment in orthopedic surgery - not because it solves every problem inherent to spinal correction, but because it forces us to reconsider what "standard of care" actually means when the tools exist to personalize treatment down to the millimeter. A decade ago, the notion of pre-bent, patient-specific titanium rods would have seemed extravagant, perhaps even unnecessary given surgeons' hard-won expertise at the bending table. Yet as this technology matures and outcome data accumulates, we may well look back on manual rod contouring the way we now regard pre-antibiotic surgery: effective in skilled hands, certainly, but primitive by comparison to what became possible once precision engineering entered the operating theater.

The real test won't be whether customized rods reduce revision rates - though early indicators suggest they do - but whether insurance systems and healthcare infrastructures can scale access to these innovations beyond major academic centers, ensuring that breakthrough techniques don't simply widen the gap between those who can afford cutting-edge care and those who cannot. - Disabled World (DW).

Attribution/Source(s): This peer reviewed publication was selected for publishing by the editors of Disabled World (DW) due to its relevance to the disability community. Originally authored by NYU Langone Medical Center / New York University School of Medicine and published on 2014/12/10, this content may have been edited for style, clarity, or brevity.