May 10, 2017

BECKER’S SPINE REVIEW: How single-use instruments facilitate jump from inpatient to outpatient total knee arthroplasty, by Megan Wood

Save time, limit processing costs and enhance procedure accuracy: these are the key points when referring to the growing number of TKR procedures. Medacta's innovative technologies respond to the needs of the surgeon through the conjunction of MyKnee patient matched technology and GMK Efficiency single use instrumentation to implant the GMK Sphere knee.

A 2016 study published in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery predicts total knee arthroplasties will witness a 673 percent boost by 2030.

Driven by such a significant projected boost of total knee procedures, surgeons are seeking innovative technology and techniques to save time, limit processing costs and enhance accuracy when performing these procedures as they transition to same-day surgery and outpatient settings.

Tyler Goldberg, MD, of Austin-based Texas Orthopedics, Sports & Rehabilitation Associates, and Coleman Fowble, MD, of Columbia, S.C.-based Midlands Orthopaedics & Neurosurgery, specifically prefer TKA technology adaptable to the outpatient setting and decided to leverage Medacta's MyKnee Patient Specific Instrumentation in conjunction with GMK Efficiency single-use instrumentation.

When used with Medacta's GMK Efficiency single-use instruments, Medacta's MyKnee patient-matched cutting block technology facilitates implantation of the Medacta GMK Sphere Total Knee Implant System during outpatient or same-day surgical procedures. The combination of these single-use instrument platforms has successfully reduced operative setup and breakdown times, instrument processing costs and time, storage space and weight. Terminally sterile, the platforms also reduce the need for a bulky sterilization unit on the premises.

Tyler Goldberg, MD: “We recently looked at 100 cases using the MyKnee Efficiency technique versus traditional technique utilizing a Sphere implant.[…] Our economic modeling projected a $1,189.10 per case savings when using the MyKnee Efficiency products. We further found a 25 minute per case improvement in case time. Additionally, the Efficiency instruments come pre-sterilized so the CSD is eliminated, which accounted for $700 per case considering the time and number of trays processed.”

Coleman Fowble, MD: “What you're doing is eliminating a lot of the costs of sterilization, and not only from the physical cost of sterilization but the labor costs of getting trays ready; the time component of money and physical cost of sterilization as well. Additionally, there is no cost for storage of the equipment.”