News from AAOS: Smith & Nephew to Use OrthoSense Technology for Knee Implants

Smith & Nephew plc is partnering with OrthoSensor, which develops “intelligent” orthopedic devices and data services designed to provide quantitative feedback to surgeons and hospitals.OrthoSensor’s Verasense sensor-assisted surgery technology for soft tissue balancing will be used when implanting Smith & Nephew’s Journey II and Legion total knee systems.

London, UK-based Smith & Nephew joins other orthopedic implant manufacturers in using OrthoSensor’s technology.

Verasense uses sensor technologies to enable evidence-based surgical decisions regarding component position, limb alignment and soft-tissue balance to improve outcomes in total knee replacement. Historically, soft tissue balancing has been accomplished by subjective surgeon feel.
According to OrthoSensor, research shows that patients whose knees have been balanced with its system report less pain and experience greater improvements in function, activity levels and satisfaction post-operatively.

“Proper alignment and soft-tissue balance are vital to achieving favorable biomechanics in total knee replacement procedures,” said Steven Haas, M.D., chief of the knee service at New York’s Hospital for Special Surgery. “Verasense not only allows me to verify the benefits of newer knee designs, it also helps ensure proper knee balance, which leads to a more normal feeling knee and a return to the active lifestyle these patients desire.”

According to Gaurav Agarwal, president of orthopedic reconstruction for Smith & Nephew: “By combining our innovations with Verasense’s exacting component placement and soft-tissue balancing our surgeons can deliver even more benefits to patients.”

At one-year, 97 percent of patients whose knees were quantifiably balanced using Verasense sense said they were “satisfied” to “very satisfied” with the outcome of their total knee arthroplasty, which the company points to as a “marked improvement” compared to the average 81 percent satisfaction reported following traditional surgery without the Verasense technology.

“We are seeing promising improvements in clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction in a multi-center study tracking patients balanced with Verasense,” said Jay Pierce, president and CEO of OrthoSensor. “We are pleased to work with Smith & Nephew to enable more surgeons to better treat their patients with our technology.”

Dania Beach, Fla.-based OrthoSensor is exhibiting (booth 6929) at this week’s American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons annual meeting (March 11-15) in New Orleans, La. It will showcase its one-year clinical outcomes (cited above) for Verasense at the meeting.

The one-year results, according to the company, also yielded statistically significant improvements in Activity Level and the Knee Society Score (KSS). Most notably, non-quantifiably balanced patient scores at one year failed to achieve the level of improvement of the quantifiably balanced patient scores at six months.

“We intuitively knew knee balance was an integral part of total knee replacement, and the one-year clinical results have solidified the importance of the quantitative data provided by the Verasense technology to the outcomes of our procedures,” said Kenneth Gustke, M.D., of the Florida Orthopaedic Institute in Tampa, Fla. “I’m excited to be able to share our findings and discuss my experience with the technology during this important meeting.”

In addition to demonstrations and presentations, the Verasense technology also will be on display with its respective knee systems with Biomet (booth 1749), Smith & Nephew booth (booth 5229), Stryker (booth 2549), and Zimmer (booth 3149).

Surgeons will be able to learn more about the technology during Zimmer’s Evening of Education on Wednesday, March 12, and Smith & Nephew’s Evening of Education on Thursday, March 13.