ECA Medical Instruments, a designer and manufacturer of single-procedure torque-limiting and fixed-driver surgical instruments and sterile-packed procedural kits, has developed what the company calls the “industry’s first single-procedure surgical ratchet for use by surgeons to secure orthopedic and spine implants.”

The proprietary Model 300 Secure-Fast ratcheting system is designed to reduce surgical costs by more than $1,000 per procedure and to provide a pristine ratcheting capability for securing screws, fasteners and connectors used in demanding procedures including spine, trauma and extremity implants. The ratchet is bi-directional and fully cannulated. This, according to the company, makes it well suited for minimally invasive surgeries where speed, safety and implant fixation are critical.

“The Secure-Fast single-procedure ratchet is a novel first of its kind instrument that will become every surgeon’s instrument of choice for hospital and outpatient ortho and spine implants,” said John Nino, president and CEO of ECA Medical Instruments. “The ease of use, versatility and ability to speed surgeries across the full range of implants will make this ratchet a popular and value-packed alternative to expensive re-usable ratchets that require cleaning, re-processing and re-sterilization.” 
   
The ECA Secure-Fast ratchet comes configured with either an industry-standard AO or quarter-of-an-inch square hub connector that can mate with legacy stainless steel drivers and shafts used across all types of surgeries. The instrument is bi-directional, making it ideal for fixation, implant adjustments and extractions, company officials noted.

Unlike existing reusable ratchets, the Secure-Fast ratchet is new for every procedure, eliminating performance concerns, and can be sterile-packed ready for surgery, thus reducing the risk of surgical-site infection.

“We’re helping implant designers and surgeons transform healthcare economics by providing robust disposable instruments and kits as alternatives to traditional and costly reusable tools,” said James Schultz, ECA’s executive vice president. “The Secure-Fast ratchet complements our family of disposable instruments and procedural kits and underscores the broader adoption of disposable instruments and kits across hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers.”

According to Schultz, surgeons and healthcare professionals—including payers—are focused on gaining the best possible outpatient outcomes at the best price point or value.

“Our single-use instruments and kits and our new Secure-Fast ratchet are cost-effective productivity tools for orthopedic and neurosurgeons and improve patient safety as every instrument is new out of the box, sterile and ready for surgery,” he said.

The new Model 300 series Secure-Fast ratchet, which has worldwide patents pending, will be available for sampling in the coming weeks, ECA officials said. OEM implant firms should contact their ECA strategic account director for details.

According to figures cited by the company, there are more than 9 million fracture repair and spine procedures globally each year that require a surgical implant and more than 80 percent can benefit from use of a versatile, single-use ratcheting instrument.  More than $4 billion in healthcare industry savings could be achieved annually with widespread adoption of disposable surgical fixation instruments and kits.

ECA Medical Instruments, an American Capital company, was founded in 1979 and is based in Thousand Oaks, Calif. ECA’s products are developed for key industry OEM implant makers and come both sterile-ready and sterile-packed, making them easy to inventory and ready to use. The firm has manufactured and delivered more than 30 million precision torque instruments to manufacturers of cardiac rhythm management, neuromodulation, cardiovascular and orthopedic and spine implants, resulting in more than 500 million precision surgical actuations.