K2M Launches 3D Spine Solutions at NASS

K2M Group Holdings Inc., a designer, developer, and commercializer of proprietary complex spine and minimally invasive spine technologies and techniques, is launching its CASCADIA Interbody Systems, featuring Lamellar 3D Titanium Technology, during the 31st North American Spine Society (NASS) Annual Meeting this week in Boston, Mass.
 
K2M is presenting clinical background on its 3D-printed technologies and showcasing the company’s CASCADIA product portfolio. K2M is also highlighting 3D printing manufacturing techniques by featuring a state-of-the-art 3D printer and a spatially immersive virtual reality experience at its NASS booth.
 
K2M’s comprehensive CASCADIA product portfolio includes the CASCADIA TL, AN, Lateral, AN Lordotic Oblique, and Cervical Interbody systems. K2M’s CASCADIA Interbody Systems feature the company’s Lamellar 3D Titanium Technology, which uses an advanced 3D printing method to create structures that are impossible with traditional manufacturing techniques. Starting with a titanium powder, the CASCADIA implants are grown through the selective application of a high-energy laser beam, incorporating complex internal geometries and rough surface architecture that pre-clinical data have associated with bone growth activity. K2M’s CASCADIA implants utilize this technology to create a 70 percent porous implant with an increased bone graft volume and similar stiffness when compared to equivalent K2M PEEK designs.
 
“With over a year of usage experience across multiple CASCADIA interbody platforms, I continue to be impressed with the Lamellar 3D Titanium Technology,” said Tom Morrison, M.D., a neurosurgeon at Polaris Spine & Neurosurgery Center in Atlanta, Ga. “The porosity and surface roughness properties make great biologic sense and the long term follow up I’m seeing with my patients reinforces my good impression. I look forward to continuing use of the CASCADIA Interbody Systems and am excited to further incorporate K2M’s Lamellar 3D Titanium Technology in my practice through future developments in other bone-
growth applications.”
 
The CASCADIA interbodies and instrumentation facilitate intraoperative efficiency in the restoration of proper disc height and sagittal balance in skeletally mature patients. Together, these systems offer comprehensive solutions for both lumbar and cervical interbody fusion procedures used in treating patients for degenerative disc disease, degenerative scoliosis, and other spinal deformities in skeletally mature patients. The CASCADIA Interbody Systems include a full range of implant sizes designed to accommodate the vertebral anatomy.
 
“We are excited to announce the U.S. launch of our 3D-printed CASCADIA Interbody Systems—featuring Lamellar 3D Titanium Technology—at this year’s NASS annual meeting, furthering our leadership position in offering 3D solutions,” said K2M President and CEO Eric Major. “We believe our success in the 3D-printed spine technology space over the last year represents our ability to leverage our differentiated R&D capabilities to introduce new and innovative products. Since debuting Lamellar 3D Titanium Technology and CASCADIA at last year’s NASS meeting, K2M has established a leadership position in this rapidly growing area of the spinal device industry, as evidenced by our portfolio of FDA-cleared, 3D-printed interbodies. We are committed to advancing this position with continued innovation and commercialization of our 3D-printed technologies around the world.”
 
K2M is displaying a ProX DMP 320 Direct Metal Printer from 3D Systems, a production-level metal printer used to manufacture the CASCADIA interbodies. The direct-metal printing method uses a laser beam to selectively fuse titanium powder in a layer-by-layer fashion to create three-dimensional shapes. The 3D printer shows how additive manufacturing technology has enabled K2M to create incredibly complex geometries designed specifically for bony integration that would have been highly impractical to create through traditional, subtractive machining methods.
 
To further highlight 3D printing manufacturing techniques, K2M is offering a virtual reality opportunity for booth attendees to experience a spatially immersive simulation to visualize how the CASCADIA implants are printed using advanced additive manufacturing techniques.
 
“NASS represents an opportunity for our company to showcase both our Lamellar 3D Titanium Technology, and our 3D-printed product portfolio to provide attendees with a better understanding of what is driving the strong market response to date within the clinician community through clinical presentations, 3D printing demonstrations, and a virtual reality experience,” Major added.

K2M Group Holdings Inc. is based in Leesburg, Va.