gor[b] Paul Gorbould: Words and Pictures

This might pinch a little

One of the great things about working on Front Street in Toronto is being able to look into the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, and seeing all the weird-ass things people hold conventions about.

This afternoon, an ad-bearing truck parked outside our office to advertise this product (apologies for the cellphone pic):

The product advertised: The Facet Gun. Looks a bit like a pop riveter, or a caulking gun. But when you look it up online, you can see it's used for quick 'n easy ... spinal surgery.

The Facet Gun is made by US Spine, a major manufacturer of spinal surgery equipment. Apparently it's "an entirely new type of posterior fixation" (oh man, the pun factor... can't... resist... "posterior fixation"... tee hee.) It quickly bolts on spinal implants. You know, in case you are up for a little DIY.

As my cellmate Kev says, the most disturbing part of this ad: "Shouldn't that guy be wearing gloves or something?"

As it turns out, the North American Spine Society  is holding their annual general meeting in Toronto. There's even some sort of workshop being held behind closed doors here in the CBC building. It's awfully tempting to crash the Cervical Spine Stabilization workshop or sneak into the Interbody Fusion Technologies class, although perhaps I'd be better suited for "An Introduction to Spine Care for Nonphysician Providers".

But it does amaze me - how many people walking past this mobile billboard are going to be in a position to make spinal surgery purchasing decisions? Obviously enough to keep US Spine in the green. And if you look at their Thoracolumbar products page, you'll see something even quicker and easier: a "Percutaneous Locking Facet Fixation" product called "LocTite". Yes, that LocTite - the guys who invented superglue.

Maybe you can do this spinal fusion stuff at home after all.