aprevo® Spinal Implant

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If you have a spine problem, you may have accepted the idea of living with pain or limited mobility. But there are treatment options that can provide relief. At UVA Health, our spine care experts offer spinal fusion surgery using the aprevo implant.

Unlike other spinal implants, this device fits your spine’s specific shape. This tailored fit may allow the spine to heal more quickly and provides alignment that more closely matches the surgeon’s goals.

A Spinal Implant Made Specifically for You

Not all implants used in spinal fusion are the same. Most come premade – one size fits all. With aprevo, we can customize the shape of the implant, providing a more personalized treatment for your condition.

Spine implants work by connecting or fusing with the spine. Prefab implants can’t totally conform to the bumpy ridges of the spine’s vertebrae. The surfaces of the aprevo implant make direct contact with your spine’s bony edges. So, compared to other implants, aprevo is designed to help achieve:

  • Faster healing and recovery
  • Fewer complications
  • Reduced need for more surgery

The goal is for your spine to heal and stabilize, so you have less disability and pain.

aprevo at UVA Health

A UVA Health spine surgeon helped create aprevo. Because of this direct involvement, we’re one of the first hospitals in the country to offer this new personalized technology to patients.

The aprevo device is the only spinal implant to receive the Breakthrough Device Designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. This means the FDA believes this treatment has the potential to significantly improve the field of spine care.

As part of their ongoing research into treatments for spine problems, our spine specialists often use their expertise to inform the development of new devices.

Who Is a Candidate for Personalized Spinal Implant Surgery?

You could be eligible for the aprevo implant if you:

  • Need spinal fusion surgery, after other options don’t work
  • Suffer from scoliosis or a misalignment of the spine
  • Have these issues in the lower levels of your lumbar spine

Our ability to personalize aprevo makes it ideal for treating the lower lumbar area of the spine. This part of the spine experiences a lot of stress. This makes it more difficult to heal with traditional implants.

What to Expect: Spinal Fusion with aprevo

Mapping Your Spine

First, you’ll have a special CAT scan. This scan will capture very detailed images of your spine. We’ll send these images to the device manufacturer, who will use them to design a personalized surgical plan and patient-specific implants to match the plan.

Implanting aprevo

Our neurosurgical team will first take out the disc that’s causing the problem. We’ll then insert the aprevo implant, along with a bone graft. This will encourage new bone to grow around the implant and fuse it in place.

Recovery From Implant Surgery

Recovery times vary. It may take weeks or months to heal completely. Your doctor will likely recommend physical therapy. You’ll need to avoid heavy lifting and hard exercise until your doctor approves.

Follow-up visits will happen after two weeks for a wound check. You'll have more visits at six weeks, six months, one year, and two years. We’ll watch your progress to make sure the implant has fused correctly. The goal is for your pain to decrease so you feel able to return to the activities you love.