Doctors at the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York and engineers at Cornell University in Ithaca have come up with a biological spinal implant that will bring much-needed relief to the millions of people around the world who have to deal with severe pain or discomfort in the neck and lower back.
The spinal discs that are engineered biologically have already been implanted in animals and the results are highly encouraging. The researchers will soon create spinal discs that can be implanted in humans to replace damaged discs.
Currently, the only cure for people with severe pain due to damaged discs is through a surgical procedure called discectomy. However, this prevents the patient from leading an active life as it greatly reduces mobility. The new bioengineered discs are hoped to have no such side-effects.
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