Two members of a Wilmington neurosurgery team have invented a surgical device for use in grafting procedures.

Sean Hensler, a neurosurgical PA, along with neurosurgeon Thomas Melin of New Hanover Regional Medical Center, formed Hensler Surgical, LLC, in May of 2011. Their first product, the Hensler Bone Press, “is just about to come to market”, company spokeswoman Emily Dillinger said.

Dillinger said that for all of the advances in medicine and surgery, “The typical collection of bone fragments for use in grafting procedures is very crude.”

“While the patient's own bone from the original surgery site is the most ideal substance to use in grafting procedures, often too much of it is lost,” she said. “Surgeons tend to rely on expensive synthetic bone, or must drill in a new site just to obtain enough bone for a fusion.”

To salvage adequate amounts of bone, techs in surgical suites can be found with coffee filters and paper towels, “attempting to filter out bits of bone by hand,” an arduous process that takes time away from the surgery, Dillinger said.

The device was envisioned in February 2011, when Hensler was recovering from surgery on a herniated disc. While he was recuperating in a hotel room in Aspen, Colo., his colleagues were taking to the slopes.

But Hensler’s time in the Aspen hotel room was well spent, Dillinger said. “It was in Aspen that the idea for a device that would press down bone fragments and filter away blood and fluid was born. He bought a notepad from Walgreens, took a bus into town and started scanning in sketches of his concept,” Dillinger said.

By May 2011, Hensler Surgical, LLC, was formed, investors secured and patent applications had been filed. The Hensler Bone Press was designed with both the surgery team and the patient in mind, Dillinger said. The inventors stipulated that use of their device had to be intuitive and not interrupt the surgical process; it had to improve the patient’s experience, and it had to be affordable.

Those goals were met, according to Dillinger. She cited the press’s “seamless design,” which drains blood and other fluids and crushes the bone fragments into a semi-dry, moldable mass ready for immediate use – all within about 30 seconds.

Patient care is improved, Dillinger said, because use of the bone press means less drilling during surgery and less chronic pain afterward. The ability to salvage adequate bone for the fusion saves money: the disposable bone press will cost less than $500 – about one-tenth the customary cost of synthetic fusion material.

Hensler Surgical will present its new product at the April 16-18 annual meeting of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons in Miami.

“The fact that this device was built for and by neurosurgeons is a great selling point,” Dillinger said.

For information, visit http://www.henslersurgical.com/