MI spine fusion market to 'skyrocket'

Millennium Research Group (MRG; Waltham, Massachusetts) said it has conducted a analysis of the minimally-invasive (MI) spinal fusion market in its "U.S. Markets for Minimally Invasive Spinal Fusion Technologies 2007" report. The report says the market will grow at a compound annual growth rate of more than 28% over the next five years. Currently worth almost $345 million, the market will skyrocket to more than $1 billion by 2011.

Minimally-invasive spinal fusion devices represent one of the most dynamic segments within the entire spinal implant market, the company said. Surgeon demand for less-invasive and less-traumatic surgeries has helped maintain robust market growth, and pressure from peers and demand from patients is influencing surgeons' need to train and learn MI procedures, according to MRG.

Improvements in device designs are also contributing to market expansion. Second- and third-generation MI spinal fusion devices are now being released to the U.S. market.

As diabetes rates rise, so does CVD

A new study shows that as rates of diabetes have risen in the U.S., the proportion of cardiovascular disease (CVD) linked to diabetes has also gone up. The findings emphasize the need for increased efforts to prevent diabetes and to treat and control CVD risk factors among those with diabetes, according to the investigators from the Framingham Heart Study, a program of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health.

The researchers compared risk factors for cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular events such as heart attacks in Framingham study participants from two different time periods. The first group was examined between 1952 and 1974 and the more recent group was examined between 1975 and 1998. A total of 9,540 individuals age 45 to 64 were evaluated.

The risk attributable to diabetes was 5.2% in the earlier time period, compared to 7.8% in the later period. Most of the increased risk was observed among men. The scientists also reported that the prevalence of diabetes among those with CVD almost doubled between the earlier and later time periods and there was also an increase in the prevalence of obesity.

"Increasing Cardiovascular Burden Due to Diabetes: the Framingham Heart Study" is published in the March 27th issue of Circulation.