Long-term data on Charité
This article was originally published in The Gray Sheet
Executive Summary
The vast majority of 106 patients implanted with Johnson & Johnson/DePuy's Charité lumbar artificial disc at one center in France continue to have positive results 10 to 16 years post procedure, and 42.5% report "excellent" long-term outcomes, according to a study published March 15 in Spine. The author of the retrospective study, Thierry David, M.D., Polyclinique de Bois-Bernard, notes a considerable reduction in transition syndrome, or adjacent level disease, in the study population compared with historical data on lumbar fusion. Charité has been available in Europe since 1987. Since its U.S. approval in 2004, payors have criticized the robustness of data on the procedure, including a lack of long-term follow up (1"The Gray Sheet" Dec. 4, 2006, p. 9)...