1.   A speedy panel hearing for the fusion cage is important for Sofamor because it is an area where the company does not have a product, analysts said.

2.   Currently surgeons may opt to use a spinal fusion cage, traditional plates and pins, or just graft the bone onto bone with no supporting device.

3.   First approved just a year ago, spinal fusion cages offer a less invasive tool for fusing together back bones after a serious spinal injury.

4.   Sofamor Danek tried to convince a skeptical government panel that its spinal fusion cage is a safe addition to the tools surgeons can use in corrective spinal operations.

5.   Sofamor Danek tried to convince an expert government panel that its spinal fusion cage is a safe addition to the tools surgeons can use in corrective spinal operations.

6.   Spinal fusion cages are hollow threaded cylinders filled with bone graft and placed in the spine opening created after a damaged disc is removed.

7.   Spine-Tech Inc., a Minneapolis, Minnesota-based company also makes the fusion cages.

8.   The Spine-Tech fusion cage is a hollow, threaded cylinder filled with bone graft that is placed in the spine opening created after a disc is removed.