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For patients with spinal stenosis, operative treatment is associated with lower risk of death and lower costs over two years, compared with nonoperative treatment, suggests a study. Patients with spinal stenosis experience narrowing of the spinal canal and compression of spinal nerves, causing back pain, leg pain, and other symptoms. In some patients, stenosis is related to degenerative spondylolisthesis, referring to "slipped" vertebrae often resulting from spinal degeneration. Operative treatment of spinal stenosis can include the use of a laminectomy to decompress the spinal canal, a spinal fusion to stabilize the spine, or a combination of both. Nonoperative treatment can...

A WORLD-first Australian medical therapy that uses stem cells to treat degenerative spinal disease has been approved for testing on patients in the US. Researchers hope the treatment will replace painful bone grafts. A Melbourne-based biotechnology company said it had won approval from the US Government for the major trial. Its preliminary animal trials were so promising the US Food and Drug Administration allowed it to skip the small phase-one human safety trial and move straight into a larger phase-two trial. It will be the first time that “off-the-shelf” adult stem cells will be used to treat spinal disc disease...