Blue Belt Technology Lends Robotic Navigation to Smith & Nephew’s Knee Implant

Smith & Nephew plc has entered a new commercial agreement with Blue Belt Technologies Inc., maker of the Navio Orthopaedic surgical system. Surgeons using the Navio system will now be able to implant Smith & Nephew’s Journey Uni partial knee. The Navio system is a robotic surgical navigation system.

“Combining the benefits of our Journey Uni implant with the robotic precision offered by Navio is a very exciting prospect for us,” says Scott Elliott, senior vice president, Orthopaedic Reconstruction for Smith & Nephew. “A concern with partial knees is that they can be difficult to align and balance. Thanks to this agreement, surgeons now have a navigation system that helps alleviate that surgical concern, as well as a partial knee that directly addresses implant durability.”

The Navio system is designed to provide surgeons with precise surgical planning and handheld robotic-controlled bone preparation for use with partial knee replacements. Through its intraoperative navigation, the system guides the surgeon in optimally placing the implant and balancing the knee in order to deliver consistent results. From a cost-savings perspective, the Navio system does not require the added time and expense of preoperative CT (computed tomography) images and is less than half the cost of its leading competitor.

The Journey Uni implant is marketed as an advanced alternative to total knee replacement for those patients whose osteoarthritis damage is limited to only one side of their knee. Unlike total knee replacement, this partial knee allows patients to keep all of their knee ligaments. Also, because it is made with Smith & Nephew’s proprietary Oxinium alloy, the Journey Uni knee offers the potential for reduced implant wear, a leading cause of revision surgery.

Made of a zirconium alloy, Oxinium implants undergo a manufacturing process during which the outer surface is transformed into a hard, smooth ceramic. According to Smith & Nephew, this ceramicized metal surface is more than twice as resistant to scratching than is cobalt chrome. Scratching is an issue with knee implants because a scratched or “roughened” metal implant can more quickly wear down the plastic portion of the implant. When this happens, a second, revision surgery may be necessary.

Smithy & Nephew is based in London, England, and Blue Belt Technologies is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pa.