Misonix Supports Uganda Spine Surgery Mission with Ultrasonic BoneScalpel™

FARMINGDALE, N.Y., Sept. 23, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Misonix, Inc. (NASDAQ: MSON), an international surgical device company that designs, manufactures and markets innovative therapeutic ultrasonic products for spine surgery, skull based surgery, neurosurgery, wound debridement, cosmetic surgery, laparoscopic surgery and other surgical applications, announces that it has once again supported the Uganda Spine Surgery Mission organized by leading spine surgeon Dr. Isador Lieberman, from the Texas Back Institute in Plano, TX, by providing an ultrasonic BoneScalpel for use in a number of advanced spinal surgeries.

The Uganda Spine Surgery Mission was founded in 2006 by Dr. Mark Kayanja (originally from Uganda) and Dr. Lieberman with the purpose of providing advanced spine care to Ugandan patients afflicted by infectious, degenerative, traumatic and congenital spinal ailments. The mission's annual surgery schedule has grown steadily in volume and expanded in scope. For the first time it included three teams for spine surgery including long-time BoneScalpel users Dr. Isador Lieberman from Texas Back Institute and Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Plano, TX, Dr. Paul Holman from Methodist Hospital Houston in Houston, TX,, Dr. Shane Burch from UCSF Medical Center in San Francisco, CA and Dr. Selvon St. Clair from The Institute for Orthopaedic Surgery in Lima, OH.   

Hundreds of patients were screened at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital. The patients travelled from remote areas in Uganda, and in some cases from neighboring countries, often waiting for days with their families for the surgical teams to arrive. The surgeries themselves, complex enough from a medical perspective were routinely interrupted by hourly power outages, shortage in hospital supplies like oxygen and other surprises that took the team's continuous ingenuity to complete their mission.

Misonix has supported the mission for the third consecutive year by donating the use of its ultrasonic BoneScalpel. The spine surgeons participating in this year's mission valued the Misonix BoneScalpel for its ability to perform complex bone removal with high precision, reduced soft tissue trauma and reduced bleeding.

Dr. Holman explained, "Our patient population in Uganda typically includes children with advanced congenital and tuberculous deformities that require extensive osteotomies to adequately correct their deformities. Use of the BoneScalpel in this setting reduces blood loss because of its coagulative cutting mechanism and the reduction in time required to complete the necessary osteotomies."

Dr. Burch added, "In my view BoneScalpel's main advantage is that it is efficient and I value the amount of bone graft one is able to harvest from the spine."

Furthermore, Dr. St. Clair commented on his first experience with BoneScalpel, "Not having used the Misonix BoneScalpel previously, I was initially hesitant to incorporate it for the first time during my cases in Uganda.  However once I did, I was quickly convinced of its inherent advantages: bone preservation, decreased bone bleeding, and consequently, less blood loss, and the preservation of the delicate neuroanatomic structures.  I now look forward to routinely using the BoneScalpel in my practice."

Dr. Lieberman continued "The addition of the BoneScalpel was again of tremendous help. Having this technology on hand in Uganda allowed us to safely perform many very complex spinal surgeries. I now regard the BoneScalpel as a necessity on all my cases here and abroad. I am very grateful for the generous ongoing support from Misonix for this mission."

Michael A. McManus, Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer of Misonix concludes "We are extremely pleased to be able to help support Dr. Lieberman and the Uganda Spine Surgery Mission. The fact that we had three surgeons who are regular users of the BoneScalpel as participants in this year's mission is testimony to the clinical importance of our unique technology and its rapidly increasing adoption rate around the world. We believe the BoneScalpel has been shown to be a unique and effective device that can change the quality of life for patients with serious spine ailments. The work being done in the U.S. and Africa by the surgeon teams around Drs. Lieberman, Holman, Burch and St. Clair has been truly remarkable, not only in demonstrating the benefits of BoneScalpel, but also in providing safe and advanced surgical benefits to their patients. Their efforts to help the less fortunate are inspirational."

About Misonix

Misonix, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures and markets therapeutic ultrasonic medical devices. Misonix's therapeutic ultrasonic platform is the basis for several innovative medical technologies. Addressing a combined market estimated to be in excess of $3 billion annually; Misonix's proprietary ultrasonic medical devices are used for wound debridement, cosmetic surgery, neurosurgery, laparoscopic surgery, and other surgical and medical applications. Additional information is available on the Company's Web site at www.misonix.com.

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SOURCE Misonix, Inc.