Orthopedic product maker Arthrex (Naples, FL) announced the launch of its SynergyHD3 imaging system at AAOS in San Francisco. The platform integrates high-definition camera technology, LED lighting, and an image management system into a single console with a tablet interface. The iPad application developed for the system enables surgeons to manage stills, video recordings, and patient education materials. The SynergyHD3 system also permits authorized remote viewers to access live streaming videos. The system enables surgeons to review, edit, and annotate stills and video recordings downloaded from the system. The SynergyHD3 technology was designed by the firm's subsidiary Arthrex California Technology, which is based in Santa Barbara.
—Brian Buntz
0
At AAOS in San Francisco, Biomet Orthopedics launched its Signature personalized patient care system designed for use with its Oxford partial knee system. The Signature custom positioning guides enable orthopedic surgeons to create custom femoral and tibial surgical positioning guides to facilitate precise joint implant positioning.
The Oxford partial knee procedure is designed to enable roughly 75% less bone and cartilage to be removed than total knee replacements. The patient-specific positioning guides are created using MRI data.
—Brian Buntz
0
BY Tricia Rodewald
Between the buzzing of drills, the humming of various imaging machines and the cacophony of product demonstrations in AAOS’ 2012 technical exhibits hall, it’s apparent that orthopaedic innovations are alive and well. Thousands of medical technology professionals have come together to not only promote their products and services, but to also gather insights from the medical professionals about ways to continue improving patient outcomes.
From hardware to software, orthopaedic technology companies are striving to respond to market demands to make products more effective, ergonomic, economical and patient-focused. We got the opportunity to speak with a few companies whose orthopaedic offerings demonstrate that they are paying close attention to these issues.
Brainlab Inc.
Brainlab, a developer, manufacturer and marketer of software-driven medical technology recently launched Curve, a platform for image-guided surgery. The product is inherently designed by...
0
Invuity's Eigr Cobra Retractor
Invuity is a rare breed of company. It faces “little to no regulatory barriers,” explains the company’s CEO, Philip Sawyer, at AAOS 2012. “And that enables use to develop multiple products and to react quickly and iterate them.”
Founded seven years ago, its lighting technology was initially developed by an optics expert partnering with an orthopaedic surgeon and researcher. The surgeon was working to develop a less-invasive hip for Zimmer and he realized that lighting problems were holding him back. After about five years, the two men had readied their first product: a sophisticated injection-molded optics device the enables orthopedic surgeons to see into small incisions.
The company has been approached by big orthopaedic companies that report they have spent years in vain trying to develop new lighting technologies similar to the firm’s products. “They come to us and say ‘we quit. We need your...
0
BY Tricia Rodewald
Recognizing that there’s a growing number of medical professionals using iPad tablets to effectively gather patient information, improve clinical decision-making and educate patients, AAOS dedicated one of their Electronic Skills Pavilion sessions to “Clinical iPad Apps for Orthopaedic Surgeons.”
The session’s presenter, Orrin Franko, MD is a PGY-3 orthopaedic surgical resident at the University of California—San Diego. He’s also the founder of TopOrthoApps, a Web site dedicated to helping busy surgeons identify apps that are most useful in the clinical, academic, and educational environments.
Dr. Franko has also published scientific manuscripts on the topic of smartphone app use among orthopaedic surgeons, and he is the Lead App Editor for the Journal of Mobile Technology in Medicine.
While the world of tablet applications is growing rapidly, there were a few notable apps that Dr. Franko shared...
0
AAOS is the most highly anticipated orthopaedics event of the year. From discussions surrounding improving patient care through social media to product launches from old and new players in the market, AAOS 2012 promises to facilitate new relationships and generate passionate conversations.
Social Media Enhances Patient Care
DePuy Expands, Reduces Healthcare Costs
Stryker: Stephen MacMillan Resigns
South Korean Ortho Company Heads to United States
Innovative iPad Apps for Ortho Surgeons
Novel Lighting Helps Doctors See What They're Doing
Provocative Meets Practical
Product Demo: Medshape's Exoshape soft tissue fastener
Biomet Debuts Personalized Partial Knee
Arthrex's iPad video app
0
BY Tricia Rodewald
At this morning’s AAOS event, Dr. Raymond Raven III, MD shared how he leverages social media to engage with patients, grow his hand & upper extremity surgery practice, and raise awareness of medical issues.
While a Web site is the marketing foundation of any practice, social media has made it easier to keep website content more patient-focused while increasing search engine optimization.
In addition to leveraging YouTube and Twitter, Dr. Raven relies heavily on Facebook to communicate expertise and share important information.
On his professional Facebook page, Dr. Raven posts cases he thinks patients would be interested in, insightful news articles, and links to different educational sites. He also has a link on his Facebook page that goes to his practice’s website and a section that displays his Twitter feed.
Twitter, a popular microblogging site, has more than 21 million users, and can be an effective way to keep in...
0
It’s no secret that the medical device industry in general is far behind industries such as electronics in terms of speed-to-market and the ability to get breakthrough technologies to patients. In most cases, products fall victim to the hurdles presented by FDA. But what about technologies that are used to inspect orthopaedic devices? Should they, too, be so far behind?
“The orthopaedics industry is, by their own admission, nine to 10 years behind on adopting technology for manufacturing and inspection,” says Bill Greene, CEO and VP of business development at Level 3 Inspection. He points the finger at “normalcy bias” and a resistance to change.
Today, the orthopaedics industry uses coordinate measurement machine (CMM) inspection. Some manufacturers also use computer-aided inspection (CAI), but not nearly enough. The advantage to CAI is its ability to provide detailed data about the surface profile of a device. The method can give an...
3
The safety of metal hip implants could be improved by nanodiamond coatings, a study by University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers has found. Although the coating itself could also shed particles, it appears that these are nontoxic and therefore safer than metal particles. By studying the nanodiamond particles interacting with macrophages in a dish, researchers concluded that the debris from the nanodiamonds should not cause toxicity or inflammation. Metal particle shedding releases metal ions into the bloodstream, which can cause inflammation and damage to the muscle and bone, as massive recalls by companies such as DePuy shows.
Read more in a medtechinsider blog post on the study.
— Camilla Andersson
0
Most of us take our ability to speak and eat for granted. We don’t even think about it. Now a woman suffering from progressive osteomyelitis (a bone infection), who would have otherwise lost the ability to eat, breath, or talk, was able to speak within hours after having nearly her entire lower jawbone replaced.
Surgeons used a titanium implant that was made via additive manufacturing, a process in which a laser heats powder to build a part layer by layer. The implant was created with the direction of Jules Poukens, MD, a craniomaxillofacial surgeon at University Hospital Maastricht in the Netherlands, and a team of researchers and surgeons from Belgium and the Netherlands.
Poukens is on the cutting edge of innovation, as I learned last year when we discussed next-generation implants and where the field is headed—the creation of 3-D printed resorbable implants.
In the instance of the mandible implant, Poukens says the device has characteristics...
0
In addition to being the president and CEO of MicroPulse (Columbia City, IN), Brian Emerick is an investor. He houses a business incubation center, called the OrthoVation Center, within MicroPulse for orthopaedic start-ups in Indiana. While many start-up companies have a difficult time attracting investors, the OrthoVation Center is helping them succeed. “Start-ups fail many times [because] they run out of money; they don’t have engineering expertise; and they make mistakes that, once you’ve done it a few times, you don’t [repeat],” says Emerick. “I make equity investments and provide some start-up capital. Typically I get involved at the very beginning—at the high-risk point.” MicroPulse, a contract manufacturer in orthopaedics, does benefit from OrthoVation, as it has right of first refusal on all manufacturing.
Since its launch in 2010, OrthoVation has nurtured several orthopaedic companies, including Nanovis LLC, which...
0
 |
Most Recent |
Privacy Policy | Contact | Advertise | Subscribe | Sitemap
© 2012 UBM Canon