The SmartFuse: Young engineer's tiny invention could be back pain miracle

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Thinking about surgery to ease your aching back? You're hardly alone.

But unfortunately, not everyone gets better after having a spinal fusion, the most common procedure for chronic back pain.

Juan Pardo wants to change the game on back surgery. The young engineer behind the startup Intelligent Implants is working at the Texas Medical Center's Innovation Institute to create a never-before-tried concept. His cutting-edge invention, the SmartFuse, could drastically improve success rates for spinal fusion procedures.

So how does it work? ABC13 visited Pardo's lab at the Texas Medical Center to find out how this device could be groundbreaking!