Materialise Expands Partnership with Lima Corporate

According to officials with Leuven, Belgium-based Materialise NV, a provider of 3-D software and printing solutions, and a developer of medical image-based knee-guide technology, Italian orthopedic firm Lima Corporate will use the Materialise knee-guide system for new full-knee replacement implants released in April—Lima’s Physica system.
 
In July, Materialise and Lima signed an agreement for the use of surgical guides for a partial knee implants.
 
The Materialise Knee Guide System, which consists of 3-D surgical planning software and patient-specific surgical guides for knee surgery, allows surgeons to plan knee surgeries based on the patient’s unique anatomy and structural damage. Based on a pre-operative plan, patient-specific guides are designed, and 3-D printed for use during surgery. This system now will include Lima Corporate and its Physica system.
 
“Just months after announcing our first contract with Lima Corporate, we are excited to announce another collaboration agreement, this time with regard to our Knee Guide System for total knee implants,” said Jeroen Dille, director of Materialise’s clinical unit. “Through this latest collaboration we are even further positioned to help even more surgeons discover the benefits that 3-D printing can offer in the planning and execution of total knee arthroplasty.”
 
Luigi Ferrari, CEO of Lima Corporate said: “Lima is committed to supporting healthcare professionals in their daily efforts to improve the lives of their patients and to enabling better outcomes for patients and healthcare systems, and the Physica system demonstrates this commitment. The aim of our collaboration with Materialise remains unchanged. Our goal is to allow the surgeons we work with to pre-operatively plan and use patient-specific guides in pursuit of more predictable surgical outcomes.”
 
Materialise has been in the additive manufacturing business since1990 for industrial and medical applications, providing biomedical and clinical solutions such as medical image processing, surgical simulations, and by developing solutions for customers’ prototyping, production and medical needs.
 
Lima Corporate’s product range includes large-joint revision and primary implants and complete extremities solutions including fixation.