Surgical Recovery Support Pillow for Spine Surgeries

Overview

The present study investigates the feasibility of a support pillow for use after spinal surgical procedures, and more particularly, to protect the midline region of the back following spinal surgery. Existing cushioning pillows do not accommodate the anatomy of the human back nor the requirements of isolating a vertical spinal incision. For example, donut-style or ring-shaped pillows are designed for entirely different purposes, such as hemorrhoidal relief, and cannot provide the desired spinal relief. As a result, there is no suitable, dedicated support structure that allows a patient to rest on their back while eliminating pressure on the surgical site. Accordingly, there is a need for a device that permits postoperative spinal surgery patients to sit or lie in a supine or reclined position without the surgical incision contacting or being compressed by any supporting surface.

Detailed description

The investigators hypothesize that use of the back saver pillow as currently designed will be feasible and that patients will report subjective improvement in pain when applying the pillow. Our specific aims are two-fold, namely (1) Determine if patients are able to utilize the back saver pillow as currently designed and (2) Survey patients as to whether they feel the back saver pillow was beneficial for their recovery.

Our study design is as follows. Eligible patients will be asked pre-op whether they would like to be part of this study and asked for informed consent prior to surgery. A total of 10 patients will be recruited. Enrolled patients will be provided with the back saver pillow either while admitted, if inpatient, or at the time of discharge for same-day surgery patients. Patients will be asked to fill out a survey with questions related to how easy the pillow was to use and whether they found it to reduce their pain on the rating scale of 1-10, where 1 is no pain and 10 is most painful. There will be 3 survey timepoints post-surgery: (1) on the day following surgery, (2) right before discharge and (3) 2-weeks post-surgery. Surveys will assess patient feedback about ease of use, and pain, first without the pillow in the supine position and sitting up with the back against another surface, then with the pillow in the supine position and sitting up with the back against another surface.

Interventions

• Device Surgical Recovery Support Pillow
  The Surgical Recovery Support Pillow for Spine Surgeries is a pillow with an open space in the middle in the shape of the spine. The space can accommodate the healing of the surgical site wound by minimizing friction between pillow and spinal wound which can lead to disruption of the sutures and infections. In contrast, normal pillows do not have a central open space in the shape of the spine, and does not minimize the wound friction.

Primary outcome measures

• Pillow use [Time frame: One day after surgery, on discharge day (approximately 1-3 days after surgery) and 2 weeks after surgery]

Secondary outcome measures (1)

• Pillow comfort and pain [Time frame: One day after surgery, at discharge (approximately 1- 3 days after surgery) and 2 weeks after surgery]

Eligibility criteria

Inclusion criteria

• Adult patients who have lumbar fusion surgery, who consent to participate

Exclusion criteria

• Pediatric patients 18 years old and under

Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.

Healthy volunteers: Yes

Study design

Allocation

N/A

Model

Single group

Masking

Open label

Primary purpose

Supportive care

Study locations

United States · 1 center

• Montefiore Medical Center — The Bronx

Publications

• Ghobrial GM, Harrop JS, Sasso RC, Tannoury CA, Tannoury T, Smith ZA, Hsu WK, Arnold PM, Fehlings MG, Mroz TE, De Giacomo AF, Jobse BC, Rahman RK, Thompson SE, Riew KD. Anterior Cervical Infection: Presentation and Incidence of an Uncommon Postoperative Complication. Global Spine J. 2017 Apr;7(1 Suppl):12S-16S. doi: 10.1177/2192568216687546. Epub 2017 Apr 1. PMID 28451485
• Chaichana KL, Bydon M, Santiago-Dieppa DR, Hwang L, McLoughlin G, Sciubba DM, Wolinsky JP, Bydon A, Gokaslan ZL, Witham T. Risk of infection following posterior instrumented lumbar fusion for degenerative spine disease in 817 consecutive cases. J Neurosurg Spine. 2014 Jan;20(1):45-52. doi: 10.3171/2013.10.SPINE1364. Epub 2013 Nov 8. PMID 24206038

Identifiers

NCT: NCT07720856 · 2026-17746

Primary sources (government registries)

• ClinicalTrials.gov (US NIH)

View this study on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗