From the Popular Press: What Your Patients are Reading

The Prodisc®, an artificial spinal disk, has been hailed by prominent spine surgeons as a medical breakthrough, with research claiming that it works better than conventional vertebrae-fusing surgery. The FDA approved the new product in August 2006 after a large study involving 17 research centers published positive results for patients with back pain. Recently, it has been revealed that doctors at about half of the research centers that participated in the study had a nondisclosed financial interest in the Prodisc. Although the companies behind the artificial disk claim the research is still valid and has been published in peer-reviewed journals, it appears that a large number of patients involved in the study were not included in the results. Some of these patients have fared poorly with the Prodisc, and a number of lawsuits were filed against the maker of the disk. The FDA is currently investigating the matter. This controversy has raised ethical issues of whether doctors should be allowed to participate in research on new medical technologies in which they have a vested interested, regardless of whether they disclose that interest. The Prodisc currently sells for about $10,000 in the US. Thousands of patients around the world have been implanted with the artificial disk.

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