NuVasive LessRay® Platform Wins 2019 Spine Technology Award from Orthopedics This Week

SAN DIEGO, Sept. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- NuVasive, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUVA), the leader in spine technology innovation, focused on transforming spine surgery with minimally disruptive, procedurally integrated solutions, today announced its LessRay® radiation reduction and workflow enhancement platform won the 2019 Spine Technology Award presented by Orthopedics This Week, a widely read publication in the orthopedics industry. The Spine Technology Award recognizes the best new spine technologies, engineering teams and inventors for 2019 and rewards excellence in innovation.

The 2019 Spine Technology Award is the third honor the LessRay platform has achieved in 2019; the platform was voted a gold winner in the Advanced Surgical Instruments category at the 2019 Edison Awards™, as well as in the Radiological, Imaging and Electromechanical Devices category at the 2019 Medical Design Excellence Awards.

"LessRay is a surgical solution that truly makes the operating room a safer place for patients, surgeons and their staff," said Matt Link, president of NuVasive. "Designed to maintain diagnostic image quality and anatomic visualization with less radiation exposure, LessRay helps surgeons perform minimally invasive surgical techniques which can lead to reduced blood loss, shorter hospital stays and less operative morbidity compared to open spine surgery."

The LessRay system is composed of a propriety software algorithm and hardware components that help address overexposure to radiation in hospital operating rooms (OR), particularly in the case of minimally invasive spine surgery. Studies show spine and orthopedic surgeons can receive their lifetime radiation limit within the first 10 years of their career; LessRay has the ability to reduce radiation emissions by up to 80 percent compared to standard fluoroscopy.¹ LessRay's proprietary image enhancement technology improves low-dose, low-radiation fluoroscopy images to have similar diagnostic capabilities as conventional full-dose fluoroscopy images, thereby reducing radiation emission and exposure in the OR. Additionally, LessRay's other features help reduce the number of fluoroscopic shots needed and ultimately decrease overall radiation exposure further. These features include:

• C-arm tracking: Simplifies localization and helps navigate to the targeted anatomy quickly and accurately with reduced fluoroscopy time and unnecessary scouting images.
• Image stitching: Minimizes surgical workflow interruption by quickly stitching together fluoroscopic images of any spine segment.
• Angle finder: Minimizes OR steps required to obtain crisp endplate shots with fewer fluoroscopic images than traditional C-arm scouting.
• Alternate view: Improves visualization by making metal instruments invisible or semi-transparent by fading out their obstruction.
• Integrated Global Alignment® (iGA®): Measures spinal alignment parameters directly on LessRay's user interface, enabling quick access to long films for measuring alignment across multiple levels.

NuVasive is integrating LessRay with its Pulse® platform, the first and only single platform to include multiple technologies designed to help surgeons adopt more efficient, less disruptive surgical approaches in all spine procedures. The Pulse platform combines multiple enabling technologies to improve workflow, reduce variability and increase the reproducibility of surgical outcomes, including neuromonitoring, surgical planning, rod bending, radiation reduction, imaging and navigation functions.² The utility of the Pulse platform currently rivals all competitive systems on the market, addressing a broader range of clinical challenges in the OR. 

About NuVasive
NuVasive, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUVA) is the leader in spine technology innovation, focused on transforming spine surgery and beyond with minimally disruptive, procedurally integrated solutions designed to deliver reproducible and clinically-proven surgical outcomes. The Company's portfolio includes access instruments, implantable hardware, biologics, software systems for surgical planning, navigation and imaging solutions, magnetically adjustable implant systems for spine and orthopedics, and intraoperative monitoring service offerings. With more than $1 billion in revenues, NuVasive has approximately 2,600 employees and operates in more than 50 countries serving surgeons, hospitals and patients. For more information, please visit www.nuvasive.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
NuVasive cautions you that statements included in this news release that are not a description of historical facts are forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors which, if they do not materialize or prove correct, could cause NuVasive's results to differ materially from historical results or those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The potential risks and uncertainties which contribute to the uncertain nature of these statements include, among others, risks associated with acceptance of the Company's surgical products and procedures by spine surgeons, development and acceptance of new products or product enhancements, clinical and statistical verification of the benefits achieved via the use of NuVasive's products (including the iGA platform), the Company's ability to effectually manage inventory as it continues to release new products, its ability to recruit and retain management and key personnel, and the other risks and uncertainties described in NuVasive's news releases and periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. NuVasive's public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission are available at www.sec.gov. NuVasive assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances arising after the date on which it was made.

¹ Wang TY, Farber SH, Perkins SS, et al.  An internally randomized control trial of radiation exposure using ultra-low radiation imaging (ULRI) versus traditional C-arm fluoroscopy for patients undergoing single-level minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion. Spine 2017;42(4);217-23.
² Certain applications of the Pulse platform are under development and not available for commercial sale.

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SOURCE NuVasive, Inc.