The X STOP Implant is a leading-edge procedure. Its being performed at Saint Francis, the only Hospital in the Greater Hartford area to utilize this minimally invasive technique, approved by the FDA.
Surgeons implant the X STOP system through a small incision. The device, made of a titanium alloy, is placed between two vertebrae in the lower back. The X STOP opens the spinal canal in the spinal segment where the device is implanted and thus relieves the compression from the nerves.
What Is Spinal Stenosis?
In the lumbar spine, the nerves course through an open tube called the spinal canal.� The surrounding structures of the canal include the vertebral body, the discs at the floor of the canal and the overlying facets with their ligaments. With age the spinal canal will become smaller as these surrounding structures degenerate, enlarge and therefore encroach upon the canal space and the nerves that course through it.� This closure of the canal space is termed stenosis.
Stenosis can be caused primarily by the underlying disc or a combination of both disc and the overlying facet degeneration (arthritis), or by degeneration of the facets alone.� The facets are small paired joints at each spinal level.� With degenerative facets and their ligaments, the nerves underneath are compressed. Compression of the nerve can result in radiculopathy, which is a term for pain traveling down a patients leg.� Severe radiculopathy can result in incapacitating leg pain when the patient attempts any activity.�
The X STOP Implant is a
