joimax® Celebrates Resounding Success at the German Spine Society (DWG) Convention 2019

Karlsruhe (GER) / Irvine, CA – December 3, 2019 – joimax®, the Germany-based market leader of technologies and training methods for full-endoscopic minimally-invasive spinal surgery, celebrated resounding success at this year’s German Spine Society (DWG), held November 28 to 30 in Munich, Germany. joimax® presented its newest product innovations and hosted several informative sessions to rave reviews, exceeding expectations.

Among the products showcased was a new member of the joimax® TESSYS® family, TESSYS® Thx, a system specifically developed for the symptomatic thoracic deherniation and decompression treatment. Surgeries utilizing TESSYS® Thx can avoid complications often associated with traditional open and microsurgical approaches, such as significant muscle damage, bony resection, and morbidities.

joimax® also presented Intracs®em, the first electromagnetic system for endoscopic spine applications that can navigate instruments directly at the tip, if required. This navigation system combines side and AP images of the C-arm with the CT axial scan, providing surgeons with meaningful views of the target region. Intracs® em received its CE mark earlier this year and has been successful throughout Europe and Asia. FDA approval is pending; expected by year’s end.

Moreover, joimax® presented its Endoscopic Spine Academy ESPINEA®. This modular training program, divided into a Pre-Clinical Training with anatomical models, endoscopic tools, and simulators, and a Clinical Training, part of the joimax® CM3 program consisting of visitation, hands-on workshops, and the first surgery, offers surgeons specific support to optimize and significantly shorten the individual learning curve.

Additional highlights included, the daily Meet the Expert Sessions, a Needle Placement Challenge with attractive prizes, and a lunch symposium on “Endoscopy in the Course of Time”.

joimax® CEO and Founder Wolfgang Ries states, “Our unmatched attention to the needs of surgeons enables us to be one step ahead. The reception of our products at this convention reinforced our commitment to endoscopy and underscored the importance of showcasing innovative products such as Intracs®em.  By participating in national and international spine congresses, we are able to achieve broad market penetration for the benefit of the patient”.

joimax® goes BRIC and beyond

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Right on time with the soon expected registrations of the joimax® products in Brazil – one of the most emerging BRIC economies – the German-based company showed a very successful presence at the third World Congress of Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery and Techniques (WCMISST) in Salvador de Bahia. The congress was supported by the main International MISS Societies. Almost 2.000 interested participants attended the congress which focused especially on promoting and enhancing the interventional minimally invasive treatment of spine diseases. joimax® is very proud of being part of this exciting development.

The eight largest emerging and developing economies by either nominal GDP or PPP are the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China) as well as Mexico, Turkey, Indonesia, and South Korea. joimax® is represented in more than 60% of these countries – namely China, Russia, India, South Korea, and Turkey – and observes a fast growing number of registered products in these areas. In Brazil and Mexico submissions with the Health Authorities were started several months ago. The completion is expected in the near future. Then nearly 90% of the growth-leading economies will be covered.

joimax® provides the complete range of high-quality medical devices for minimally invasive endoscopic spine surgery “Made in Germany”. As a matter of course these devices are CE-marked and FDA-cleared and are sold throughout the European Union and the United States. The specific surgery methods they are used for, were developed by joimax® together with international experts and opinion leaders for the benefit of the patients:

Less pain, less trauma, less hospitalization, gain back quality of life and be back to work in shorter time!

The advantages are evident. Therefore joimax® has established a worldwide net of distribution partners allowing that as many patients as possible can get access to these progressive therapy methods.

Other important countries where joimax® is already present are: South Africa, Israel and Australia. One of the company’s goals within the next few years is to achieve the approval for its devices with the Japanese Ministry of Health.

Emerging and growth-leading economies are the key markets that are expected to lead global growth in the next 10 years. “joimax® is most pleased with its growing market penetration also in these countries, hence promoting these gentle, patient-friendly and economically beneficial surgery methods for the sake of the patients and of the health insurance systems at the same time”, states Wolfgang Ries, CEO and Founder of joimax®.

Parviz Kambin Award for three joimax® Faculty Members

During a special joimax® faculty meeting which was held at the institute of anatomy at the University of Mainz, Germany on June 20-21, joimax® honored three surgeons with the Parviz Kambin Award. Dr. Albert Telfeian, Rhode Island Hospital, Brown University, RI, US and Dr. Gabriele Jasper, Center for Pain Control, NJ, US received the award in recognition of their outstanding scientific and educational dedication to transforaminal surgery. The two surgeons tremendously contributed to this field with numerous high quality publications. Also they are treading new paths for spinal endoscopy. Just recently Dr. Telfeian did the first awake surgery to remove a thoracic spinal tumor. Dr. Menno Iprenburg, Iprenburg Herniakliniek, NL received the award for his lifetime achievement. Dr. Iprenburg is applying joimax techniques, especially TESSYS, since 2004. In his private clinic, he successfully treated more than 2000 patients suffering from disc herniations.

The award is named after Dr. Parviz Kambin who identified a workspace within the intervertebral foramen, through which the spinal canal can be accessed safely. Because this safe zone is somewhat triangular shaped, it was named the „Kambin triangle“.

On the left: Award winner Dr. Menno Iprenburg (r.) with joimax® CEO Wolfgang Ries (l.) On the right: Award winners Dr. Albert Telfeian (r.) and Dr. Gabriele Jasper (l.) with Wolfgang Ries (m.)

joimax® conducts an international Live Spinal Surgery Workshop in cooperation with the Medical University of Graz, Austria

Spine specialists take part at the joimax® endoscopy workshop with live spinal surgeries

Karlsruhe, 14 March 2011: On 17 and 18 March 2011, the Medical University as well as the Institute for Anatomy in Graz, Austria, were the sites of a two-day international joimax® Workshop focused on the endoscopic resection of herniated discs utilizing the TESSYS® method. The first day, Dr. Wolfgang Kreil and Univ. Doz. Dr. med. Sandro Eustacchio of the Medical University Graz will operate on two patients with herniated discs using the TESSYS® method. The participating orthopaedic surgeons and neurosurgeons from Germany, Austria, Greece, Bulgary, Italy and Macedonia will experience the surgery procedure firsthand. While operating on the patients, one of the operating surgeons will explain each step of the TESSYS® surgery and answer questions of the workshop attendees. Afterwards Dr. Wolfgang Kreil and Dr. Sandro Eustacchio will lead scientific presentations and panel discussions on how the transforaminal endoscopic technique works and what their experiences have been, while discussing several case examples.

On the second day, joimax® hosts an intensive cadaver training course at the Institute for Anatomy Graz. The practical training and hands-on learning experience gained at cadaver workshops such as this one is an important first step in the three-step joimax® CM3 Education Program. In this comprehensive program, experienced surgeons and application specialists train each workshop member to use the TESSYS® Method. The subsequent steps of the Education Program are visitations, followed by live surgeries accompanied by joimax® Medical Trainers and application specialists.

joimax® and spine experts from across the world at COMINCO in São Paulo

Karlsruhe – Spine experts from across the world met at the beginning of August at COMINCO (Brazilian Congress of Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery) in São Paulo. This was the fifth time that COMINCO has taken place and it provided an opportunity for large numbers of experts to share information and ideas in the fields of neurosurgery and orthopedics.

Minimally invasive treatment methods and their successes from the patient’s perspective were the focus of the congress. The very latest surgical possibilities and techniques were presented in symposia, workshops, and numerous lectures to a very high scientific standard. joimax® GmbH trainer, Dr. med. Ralf Wagner from Frankfurt, Germany, notably introduced TESSYS® in his presentation “Endoscopy of the lumbar spine in degenerative diseases.” This technique provides transforaminal access to the lumbar spine for treatment of herniated discs and stenosis – an osseous narrowing of the spinal canal.

Cominco

joimax® and Red One Medical Partner to Support Expert Endoscopic Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery for Veterans and Active Military

SAVANNAH, GA – joimax®, a leading developer and marketer of complete systems for endoscopic minimally invasive spinal surgery, and Red One Medical, a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business, announced their partnership today. The partnership enables both companies to continue their missions to improve patient care and surgical outcomes with leading edge medical technology and devices.

Red One Medical Founder and CEO Charles Pollak shared, “I am excited to join forces with joimax® to offer their innovative technologies, systems and methods for endoscopic minimally invasive spinal surgery to VA and DoD facilities across the nation, further supporting the government’s goal to improve outcomes and improve efficiency in these facilities.”

Matt Cronin, senior VP of sales and marketing for joimax®, is a U.S. Navy veteran and hailed this partnership: “This is a pivotal moment for joimax® and our long history. We are honored to be a part of improving health care for our many veterans and our brave U.S. military personnel, as well as for their dependents. Our working together with Red One Medical will make endoscopic spine surgery more accessible to this patient population, where a quicker return to both duty and a more active life, is so important.”

About Red One Medical:

Red One Medical is a CVE-certified Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) located in Savannah, GA. Wholly owned and operated by a combat veteran, Red One Medical is a leading medical device distributor and wholesaler serving the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers and Department of Defense (DoD) hospitals. Red One Medical donates a portion of profits to leading charities as part of its mission to support veterans, military families and their communities. To learn more, visit http://www.redonemedical.com/

RED-ONE-joimax-collaboration, Military, veterans, endoscopic spine experts, endoscopic devices, endoscopic systems, treatment

The Spine Movement – May 2012

Choll Kim, MD, PhD gives a breakdown of some of the most exciting presentations in MIS at ISASS12, and looks ahead to ISASS13 in Vancouver.

Minimally Invasive Surgery Was Huge at ISASS12

ISASS12 in Barcelona was a remarkable venue for numerous presentations related to minimally invasive spine surgery. Great interest both in the US and abroad continues to grow in this area of spine surgery: MIS made up the content for one-third of all the general sessions, with a sprinkling of individual presentations in other general sessions.

The range and complexity of the MIS topics proved broad. One of the most striking findings emerging in the literature is the marked decrease in infections when minimally invasive surgery is performed. Pfandistiener et al. from the Clinic for Spine Surgery with Scoliosis Center in Germany reported on infection rates between open and MIS posterior instrumentation. In 284 open surgeries, deep infections were seen in 2.46%. In contrast, 199 patients underwent percutaneous posterior instrumentation procedures without a single infection.

The use of minimally invasive strategies to treat ever more complex conditions were highlighted. Phillips and co-workers presented the prospective, multi-center results of 107 adult degenerative scoliosis with 24 month follow-up. Excellent clinical results and a low complications were encountered in this this challenging group of patients with advanced age and co-morbidities. Anand showed similar results in 33 patients from a single site.

The fusion rates of minimally invasive interbody fusion remains high. As shown in a meta-analysis by Gwinn et al. from Walter Reed Medical Center, the MIS TLIF technique enjoys a greater than 95% fusion rate.

Topics in endoscopic surgery continue to generate interest, as well–Nagahama et al. (Hokkaido University) and Schubert (Munich, Germany) showed continued success of this promising procedure in the hands of experienced endoscopic spinal surgeons.

Lingering questions regarding MIS were also addressed: Lee et al. (University of California, San Diego) quantitatively examined hip flexion strength after the popular transpsoas lateral lumbar interbody fusion (XLIF/DLIF/LLIF). As experienced by many surgeons, hip flexion strength decreased in most patients immediately postoperation, but returned to baseline within 2 weeks of surgery.

Cost effectiveness of open versus MIS TLIF was assessed by Phillips et al. on worker’s compensation patients; the cost of overall inpatient care was slightly less for MIS than for open.

Pimenta et al. advised appropriate caution when he described low fusion success rates of 2-level AxiaLIF procedures. In their review of 27 patients undergoing L4-S1 2-level AxiaLIF, only 22% of patients were considered to have solid fusion at 2 year follow-up.

Emerging MIS technologies were presented by a wide variety of groups. Regev et al. from Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center described the minimally invasive transforaminal, thoracic microscopic discectomy; Husain et al. from Loma Linda University described a percutaneous cervical transfacet fixation technique; Araghi et al. showed the results of the first 40 Guyer Lumbar Interbody Fusion (GLIF) procedures; MacMillan described a novel all transosseous approach to the L5-S1 disc, and both Julien (West Virginia University) and Sharma et al. (Manassas, VA) described the use of percutaneous stabilization for thoracolumbar fractures. It is heartening to see so many attempts to make the best of minimally invasive technology in this still pioneering area of spine surgery.

Santos et al. (University of Minnesota) showed that 3-D navigation may be used to improve safety and accuracy of percutaneous pedicle screw placement. Finally, the potential changes in healthcare delivery were highlighted by Smith and Christian (Las Vegas, NV) when they showed that selected MIS fusions may be performed in the ambulatory setting.

The diversity of topics was matched only by the excitement surrounding them. I’m looking forward to even more fascinating research by my colleagues at ISASS13 in Vancouver.

Choll Kim, MD, PhD
Spine Institute of San Diego

joimax launches the iLESSYS® Delta system for treatment of spinal stenosis at DGNC 2015 annual meeting

Karlsruhe, Germany – June 8, 2015 (BUSINESS WIRE) – The German company joimax®, developer of technologies and training methods for minimally invasive endoscopic spinal surgery, today announced it will introduce the company’s new iLESSYS® Delta system to the market at the 66th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Neurosurgery (DGNC) taking place in Karlsruhe, Germany from June 7-10.

iLESSYS® Delta, an advanced development of the joimax iLESSYS® technology, is suitable for dorsal and dorso lateral treatment of central spinal canal stenosis. The iLESSYS® Delta system enables a large area to be decompressed by means of the interlaminar access, guided by endoscopic-assisted vision.

“Since the access to the spine is the same as with the already well-established iLESSYS® technique, usage is very straightforward.” said Dr. Guntram Krzok, orthopedic surgeon from Waltershausen, Germany after testing the new system at a joimax workshop early this year. “I was impressed by the new scope which delivers outstanding image quality. With the specialized instrument set, it is finally possible to achieve decompression of central spinal canal stenosis.”

The iLESSYS® Delta instrument set includes specially developed tools that enable extensive, yet gentle, tissue-sparing decompression. The 6 mm working channel of the new endoscope allows for the use of large shaver blades designed for bone resection and endo-kerrisons. An additional option is the plastic (PPSU) working tube for unimpaired X-ray examination.

“iLESSYS® Delta is a logical addition to our portfolio. Not only is the system suitable for endoscopic decompression, but it also allows the parallel implantation of cages. This way we can achieve dorsal decompression and stabilization in one step,” comments Wolfgang Ries, CEO and founder of joimax.

About joimax

Founded in Karlsruhe, Germany, in 2001, joimax® is one of the leading medical device companies in minimally invasive spinal surgery („joined minimal access“). The company’s U.S. subsidiary was established in Irvine, California, in 2005. The company is primarily focused on the development, production and marketing of technologies and methods for minimally invasive endoscopic spinal surgery. joimax is active in 40 countries around the globe and its methods have been successfully employed in approximately 130,000 surgeries. With a special focus on education, the company provides surgeons with specialized technique training through the three-step joimax CM3 education program. This program includes visitations, cadaver workshops and live-surgery support.

joimax® goes HD: HD Technology for superior safety in endoscopic spinal surgery

Camsource®HD camera systems, HD endoscopes and HD flat screen monitors by joimax® at the 5th German Spine Congress (5. Deutscher Wirbelsäulenkongress) in Bremen, Germany

Karlsruhe, December 2010: The 5th German Spine Congress (5. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Wirbelsäulengesellschaft (DWG) will take place from 16 to 18 December 2010 at the Congress Centre in Bremen. joimax® is proud to present the innovative HD 5-in-1 complete system at their booth no.20: The C-Camsource®HD Twister offers state-of-the-art HD technology and works with both the joimax® HD endoscopes and HD flat screens producing an extremely precise and sharp picture and video imaging for endoscopic spinal surgery.

This is convincing technology for spinal surgery experts like Dr. Michael Schubert, Apex-Spine Center, Munich, Germany or Dr. Ralf Wagner, Frankfurt, Germany: „High resolution like this allows very precise working and provides the necessary safety required when operating – especially in the field of endoscopic spinal surgery.“ With this integrated combination of HD camera technique, HD endoscopes and HD flat screen monitors joimax® is the first manufacturer to offer a completely tuned and expandable HD system of highest imaging quality and picture resolution.

Both surgeons value the C-Camsource® HD Twister as a 5-in-1 system with its integrated xenon light source and picture rotation function; “There is optimal lighting at all times and with the Twister, image details can be zoomed in and rotated”, “and thanks to the imaging function and the diaphragm and mask function, optimal orientation in the operation area is possible.”
The HD 5-in-1 complete system has also a text generator in order to document each step of the surgery and it offers direct and simple data storage on a USB data carrier. “It was important for us to offer the surgeon a perfectly coordinated as well as a safe complete system“, says Wolfgang Ries, CEO and founder of joimax®, “for the best possible treatment of patients – without any compromises.”

Advantages of the C-Camsource® HD-Twister complete system and the joimax® HD endoscopes

– Best possible resolution due to High-Definition-Technology
– First-class brightness, brilliance of the pictures due to optimal co-ordination of the endoscope,
camera and screen as tuned system
– Unique image rotation, zoom and picture movement function
– As much system integration as sensible, possible and necessary
– Functions for intuitive orientation, marking and documentation

Advantages of the HD flat screen monitors by joimax®

– HD flat screen monitors in either 24“ or 42“ with an angle of
178 degrees for an exceptionally good view and safe operating
– Brilliant images in high resolution: 1.920 x 1.080 pixels
– Picture in picture function; size and position adjustable
– Touch Control Panel, multi-language menu navigation

joimax® Announces Executive Appointments Among Record-Breaking Sales for 2022

KARLSRUHE, Germany – (BUSINESS WIRE) – joimax®, the German-based market leader in technologies and training methods for full-endoscopic and minimally invasive spinal surgery, has appointed Mr. Maximilian Ries and Mr. Anthony Troncale to new executive positions, effective January 1. The announcement comes among record-breaking sales across Europe, Asia, and the United States in 2022.

Maximilian Ries

Ries took on the newly created role of Executive Vice President, Business Development and Operations at joimax®. In this position, based in Germany, he will be responsible for scaling global operations to ensure joimax® continues its exponential growth. Formerly the General Manager, for the past six of his 13-year tenure with joimax®, Ries built out the United States and Latin American markets.

Tony Troncale

Troncale was promoted to General Manager; he was formerly Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at joimax® Inc. Over the past two years, Troncale, in addition to increasing his responsibilities, successfully capitalized on the significant interest in endoscopic techniques to expand US sales operations. He joined joimax® in 2021 bringing 20-years of experience in the spinal device industry where he served in sales and marketing leadership roles at Stryker, K2M, and Synthes Spine. Contributing to the global organization’s continuous strong sales growth was the launch of a new surgical access system, “Tessys® Trans SAP” and the global expansion of the ESPINEA® Education Academy.

Wolfgang Ries

“I am extremely pleased with our 2022 global performance and the significant interest in endoscopic spine surgery,” stated joimax® Founder and CEO Wolfgang Ries. “With Max and Tony in their new roles, our market-leading endoscopic spine technologies, and our anticipated launch of two more new surgical access systems later in 2023, we are well positioned for another very successful year.”