Public Relations / Marketing Officer

For Immediate Release
Sept. 28, 2006

Spine surgeons at Mercy Regional Medical Center participate in landmark artificial disc implant study

DURANGO, Colo.— Mercy Regional Medical Center recently became one of only 25 centers in the nation where patients are undergoing a groundbreaking spine procedure involving the implantation of an artificial disc. Fellowship-trained spine surgeons Jim Youssef, M.D., and Andrew Paterson, M.D., are performing the procedure on patients who qualify to participate in this Food and Drug Administration-approved clinical study. The study is focused on patients with degenerative disc disease or herniated discs in the cervical spine, which is comprised of the seven vertebrae at the top of the spine.

Diseased or herniated discs located between the vertebrae are normally treated using non-surgical options such as physical therapy and medications. When those options do not relieve symptoms of pain, limb numbness, tingling, or muscle weakness, patients may opt to undergo a common surgical procedure in which the damaged disc is removed and the adjacent vertebrae are fused together using bone, plates, and screws. While cervical fusion procedures may increase stability and reduce pain and other symptoms, they also can reduce the spine’s range of motion and increase stress in adjacent areas of the spine.

In the new procedure being studied, the natural disc is replaced with an artificial cervical disc made of cobalt chromium metal, and the adjacent vertebrae are not fused together. Like the fusion procedure, the artificial disc implant is designed to alleviate pain and other symptoms, but it is also designed to preserve the patient’s disc height and to preserve the spine’s normal range of motion.

The advent of cervical disc arthroplasty is very exciting. This type of surgery has been performed in Europe for several years. We are very privileged to have the opportunity to offer this procedure to patients in the Four Corners region,” said Dr. Youssef.

As the only hospital in the Intermountain West currently participating in this clinical trial, Mercy is proud to be a regional venue for such an innovative procedure. It has the potential to benefit a significant number of patients suffering from severe back pain and other debilitating symptoms,” said Kirk Dignum, CEO of Mercy Regional Medical Center.

Approximately 400 patients nationwide will participate in the prospective, randomized clinical trial. To qualify as a participant in the study, patients must be between 18 and 65 years old and meet strict selection criteria. Qualified patients will receive either the standard of care or the artificial disc.

Mercy Regional Medical Center, a not-for-profit, acute-care hospital, relocated to a new facility the Three Springs / Grandview area of Durango on June 27, 2006. The 212,000-square-foot, $80 million hospital features 82 private patient rooms, five operating suites, state-of-the-art technology, and amenities such as a healing garden. Attached to the hospital is a 153,000-square-foot medical office building that houses 21 provider practices, an outpatient surgery center, and hospital administrative offices. Mercy Regional Medical Center is a member of the not-for-profit Catholic Health Initiatives health system, which includes 71 hospitals; 42 long-term care, assisted and independent living and residential facilities; and two community-based health organizations located in 19 states.