DePuy Showcases New Treatments at AAOS

Members of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) depend on the organization’s annual meeting to educate themselves about the latest clinical research and technological advancements. Companies, (particularly OEMs) on the other hand, have come to rely on the event to showcase new products.

DePuy Orthopaedics Inc., for example, unveiled a slew of new devices at this year’s meeting in San Francisco, Calif. The novel items include the Reclaim Modular Revision Hip System, Gription TF Acetabular Agument System, Global Unite Platform Shoulder Arthroplasty System, Global Steptech Anchor Peg Glenoid, and AOX Antioxidant Polyethylene. The company also introduced the latest iteration of its Trumatch Personalized Solutions technology, which is used with the Sigma Fixed-Bearing Knee System.

“Our expanding portfolio enables us to offer solutions to most of the orthopaedic challenges a surgeon or patient may face,” said Andrew Ekdahl, president of Warsaw, Ind.-based DePuy Orthopaedics. “Our goal is to provide surgeons and healthcare institutions with more choices that help fill clinical needs, streamline procedures and personalize treatment. We believe that products which focus on these areas will help enhance care while reducing healthcare costs.”

Some of the newest choices for surgeons include:

AOX Polyethylene
Approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use with the Sigma Rotating Platform Knee System and LCS Complete Mobile Bearing Knee System, AOX Polyethylene delivers an advanced blend of polyethylene resin and an antioxidant called Covernox to create a new material that can trap free radicals and scavenge oxygen, according to DePuy. By eliminating the annealing or remelting process, AOX Polyethylene delivers oxidative stability and optimum wear resistance with compromising the mechanical properties or strength of the substance, company executives noted. By introducing Covernox antioxidant into the base resin before the polyethylene is consolidated, the process enables the antioxidant to be uniformly dispersed and remain blended, eliminating the risk of outward migration.

Hip Revision Solutions
The Reclaim Modular Revision Hip System is engineered to deliver a high level of implant strength. DePuy claims the modular design of the Reclaim system features instrument technology that could improve intraoperative handling, flexibility and efficiency. The modularity of the system also offers surgeons various options to treat a patient’s unique pathology while simplifying the instrumentation required in surgery.

The company’s Gription TF Acetabular Augment System addresses bone defects in moderate to complex acetabular revision surgery using a highly porous structure made from commercially pure titanium, a strong corrosion-resistant metal that has high surface roughness and a similar elasticity to bone. The Gription system offers a wide range of options and configurations for the patient, and is designed to work in conjunction with the full range of Pinnacle Acetabular Cup options.

Improved Knee Replacements
Trumatch Personalized Solutions 2.5i provides enhanced capabilities that aid implant positioning and procedural efficiency, DePuy executives claim. Trumatch reduces procedure time by up to 35 minutes and is billed as the first system to utilize computed tomography (CT) scans and computer software to guide the development and production of femoral and tibial cutting blocks that are individually prepared to match the actual bone surfaces of each patient. The use of CT scans instead of magnetic resonance imaging improves bone imaging and can help reduce healthcare costs, according to DePuy.

Advanced Shoulder Solutions
The company debuted two new shoulder solutions at AAOS. The Global Unite Platform System treats fractures of the proximal humerus; the device helps improve tuberosity healing and later can be converted to a reverse shoulder arthroplasty for treatment of arthritis with a torn rotator cuff. The Global Steptech APG System, meanwhile, is designed to correct excessive retroversion caused by posterior glenoid bone loss; it closely recreates the original glenohmeral joint line and minimizes the removal of healthy bone. The prosthesis incorporates a proprietary step design with an anterior backside surface that is spherical and a posterior backside surface that is conical. The dual surface design counteracts posterior loading, company executives noted.

Last year, Warsaw, Ind.-based DePuy (a division of healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson) cleared several product approval hurdles with the FDA, receiving premarket clearance for AOX Polyethylene and the Pinnacle Complete Acetabular Hip system. The Pinnacle system—which has been used to restore mobility to more than 1 million patients worldwide, according to DePuy—has the FDA’s blessing for both ceramic-on-ceramic and ceramic-on-metal bearing options. Pinnacle’s Ceramax Ceramic Total Hip System features new ceramic material called Biolox delta, the company’s fourth generation of Biolox ceramic.