Dr. Rolando Garcia, a Miami-based spine surgeon and the first surgeon in Florida to perform spinal disc replacement surgery, has co-developed the first lumbar disc replacement to be approved by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) in over ten years.
ActivL is the new generation of lumbar disc replacement and the first artificial lumbar disc with intelligent motion technology. Made up of chromium endplates that affix to the patient’s vertebrae with bone-sparing spikes for stabilization, it has a mobile ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene core that supports rotational movement similar to the movement of the healthy lumbar spine.
The ActivL was approved by the FDA in June of 2015 after an extensive five year, multi-center national clinical study that followed 324 patients. Dr. Rolando Garcia, a spine surgeon at Orthopedic Care Centers, not only co-developed this technology but was also the co-lead investigator in the FDA trial. He performed the first ActivL surgery in the United States. Dr. Garcia is currently the only spinal surgeon in South Florida, and one of a select few throughout the country, to offer ActivL as an option for lumbar disc replacement. He has also performed the most of these surgeries in the state of Florida.
