Addressing unmet clinical needs for surgeons, while reducing costs for hospitals is at the core of the company’s mission. Co-inventors Mark Kurd, MD and Greg Anderson, MD, along with lead engineer Jens Johnson, developed DuraStat to address the key limitations of conventional dural repair techniques to make repairs safe, reproducible and efficient, even in the most difficult situations. This is facilitated by a curved blunt tip with a recessed needle and suture, allowing surgeons to delicately and precisely select the ideal position for their repair, followed by the use of an automated mechanism allowing single-handed needle passage by incorporating standard suture technique (supination) into the device.

The value of DuraStat has been confirmed by physicians through hundreds of clinical uses at dozens of US spine facilities. Alex Vaccaro, MD, PhD, MBA (Thomas Jefferson University), an early adopter of DuraStat, believes that “every spine surgeon would benefit from having this tool available. I have found this device to be extremely useful for difficult dural repairs off the midline in the lateral gutters where traditional dural repairs are more challenging.”

Sheeraz Qureshi, MD (Hospital for Special Surgery), one of the first clinicians to start using DuraStat intraoperatively, said “I love the product because it’s easy to use and makes an otherwise challenging problem much easier to handle. We have an obligation to find ways to introduce additional safety, reproducibility and precision into every facet of what we do as spine surgeons, and that is exactly what DuraStat accomplishes for dural repairs.”

Christopher DeWald, MD (Rush University), another early user of DuraStat shared that “It’s awesome. It significantly reduces the learning curve, allowing trainees and less experienced surgeons to quickly and safely repair a durotomy. One of our fellows trained other attendings on its use. Both fellows and attendings like it, demonstrating its long-term value to surgeons.”

To date, DuraStat has been available at select teaching institutions and within limited US regions, however, the company plans to rapidly add distribution scale in ’21 to facilitate nationwide availability with the ultimate goal of becoming the gold standard for dural repair. The novelty of DuraStat is recognized by 16 issued US patents encompassing clinical applications in spine and beyond. Using the robust portfolio of intellectual property and the amassed clinical experience within the durotomy repair space, the company plans to apply its procedure-enabling mechanisms to various additional medical disciplines in the future.

Contact Information

• To order DuraStat, please contact: customerservice@durastat.com
• For additional information, or to inquire about distribution, please contact: info@durastat.com
• Website: www.durastat.com

SOURCE: DuraStat, PR Newswire, 19th November 2020