Technology

ZEPHIR™ Anterior Cervical Plate System

Medtronic Sofamor Danek, the global leader in spine instrumentation, introduces the new ZEPHIR™ Anterior Cervical Plate System, providing surgeons with the lowest profile unicortical locking cervical plate available on the market today. The ZEPHIR™ System utilizes a titanium alloy plate with a pre-machined lordotic curve, variable angle screws, and an integral locking cap. The drill guides for the ZEPHIR™ Plate have been specially designed to create 0.6mm of graft compression. The total thickness of the complete construct, when implanted, is still only 1.6mm, with a width of 15mm. In spite of having the lowest profile of any anterior cervical plate system available, the ZEPHIR™ System has similar fatigue properties to several other plates that are in clinical use. With a streamlined instrumentation set that has been carefully designed to maximize the ease of application, the ZEPHIR™ System meets the goals of plate fixation after anterior cervical surgery with the least amount of disturbance to the patient's anatomy.

Cervical Plates

Over the past twenty years, there has been a significant increase in the use of cervical plates for single and multi-level anterior cervical surgery. At the 2000 Cervical Spine Research Society meeting, the members of this society reported using cervical plates in approximately 92% of all anterior cervical discectomies and fusions. Cervical plates offer the advantages of improved initial stability in the post-operative period, which decreases the need for wearing a cervical collar and results in a faster return to normal activities. In addition, anterior cervical plate fixation decreases the complications of graft dislocation and end plate fracture. Several studies have now demonstrated that there are substantial cost savings with the use of anterior cervical plates to the patient and society by decreasing the indirect costs associated with cervical surgery and allowing the patient to return to work faster. There is also evidence of significantly decreased rates of late deformity and kyphotic collapse when an anterior plate supports the reconstructed cervical spine. Anterior cervical plates are now widely accepted as a means of improving the rates of spinal fusion in the cervical spine.

Features and Benefits

As surgeons have grown more and more accustomed to using anterior cervical plates in the majority of their cases, they have asked for plates and instrumentation sets that have been designed to permit the least amount of retraction and tissue trauma required for application of the plate. In response, Medtronic Sofamor Danek has refined the design of the anterior cervical plate and the instrumentation set in order to facilitate placement and fixation of the plate with the minimum amount of retraction, while simultaneously producing a plate that has the lowest possible profile once it is implanted.