China, Chongqing - Recently, the 17th Chinese Medical Association and the 10th Chinese Orthopaedic Association (COA) International Academic Conference was held in Chongqing. As the world's fourth largest orthopedic products manufacturer, MicroPort® Orthopedics participated in the conference and held a SuperPath™ and EVOLUTION™ satellite meeting, "MicroPort® Night" new technology dissemination, shaft type knee series roadshow and many other activities.
Clinical Results of SuperPath™ and EVOLUTION™ Satellite Meetings
On November 19 and 20, MicroPort® Orthopedics held satellite meetings at the Joint Hall and the Rehabilitation Hall during the conference. At the satellite meeting of the rehabilitation hall, Professor You Wang was invited to serve as chairman of the knee joint session, Professor Liu Yang was invited as hip joint session chairman.
Professor Jimmy Chow, director of the Department of Orthopedics, the San Luke Medical Center in the United States, presented a themed report at the meeting, "SuperPath™: learning curve and clinical results of 7 years". About 400 doctors participated in the meeting. They discussed about the clinical results of SuperPath™ and its advantages. Dr. Chow has accomplished 1300 cases (including revision case) since 2008, with 1% post-operative complication, average 1.39 day length of stay in hospital, over 60% patient walking 4 hours after the surgery. According to Dr. Chow, he has all his patients operated with SuperPath™, and average BMI is 28.3 +/- 5.8 (heaviest 53).
Therefore, he considers that SuperPath™ has the least restraints for patients to choose to have operations, among all contemporary hip MIS techniques. Through 1 day, 1 week and 1 month follow-up interviews on pain perception after surgery, they found that 70% of the patient perceive their pain level as zero by only taking oral pain management medicine, and without any medicines via analgesia pump or intravenous injection. This fact reveals that SuperPath™ lowers patient pain perception after surgery by inter-operative protection of capsular, muscle and soft-tissue, so that patient may start physical therapy and speed up their joint functional recovery ASAP.
When comparing advantage of SuperPath™ with DAA, Dr. Chow expressed that DAA is very “expensive” not only for its special operation table but also for a longer surgeon learning curve and higher complication rate which may frustrate the surgeons and their hospitals. SuperPath™ is safe even for surgeons still in their learning curve because of its interchangeability to traditional approach during surgery, which facilitates SuperPath™ as a technique for almost all hip surgeons.
In the session of knee joint, Professor Bae Dae Kyung, the former president of Korean Orthopedics Association, the founder of Korean Knee Society and the Korean Trauma Society, shared the design concept and clinical results of the EVOLUTION™. As the most influential expert in the field of internal shaft type of knee joint clinical application, Professor Bae Dae Kyung has rich experience in total knee arthroplasty, having operated more than 6000 knee surgeries.
Starting by talking about the kinematics of the knee joint, he then talked about the goal of the total knee arthroplasty, and emphasized the importance and necessity of the reconstruction of the knee joint kinematics and anatomy. He pointed out that the knee of the inner shaft, through the inside of the ball and socket joint surface, reconstructs lateral slide natural knee joint kinematics, which enables the patients to maintain high stability, and provides better mobility and proprioceptive at the same time. The long-term clinical follow-up results are superior, with no polyethylene wearing in 10 years of clinical follow-up results. For doctors and patients, it’s a very good solution.
On November 20, MicroPort® Orthopedics also held a symposium on SuperPath™ for experts from China and America. During the symposium, Dr. Chow replied clinical questions from the attending surgeons. The participated experts said that this meeting provides a platform for in-depth exchanges for professionals. Doctors can communicate with Dr. Chow, one of the inventors of SuperPath™ technique, face to face. It’s a good way to promote SuperPath™, the advanced technology, in China.
MicroPort® Orthopedics Medial Pivot Knee Roadshow China Tour-2015 COA
A MicroPort® Orthopedics Medial Pivot Knee Roadshow China Tour was accomplished from November 15 to November 19. MicroPort® Orthopedics invited Dr. Bae Dae Kyung to share Medial Pivot Knee design rationale, surgical technique, and mid-long term clinical result. Meanwhile, Dr. Bae Dae Kyung demonstrated two surgeries during the China tour. The roadshow covered Zhongda Hospital Southeast University, Dongyang People’s Hospital, Foshan Hospital of TCM, Guangzhou Orthopedic Hospital, and Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine. Professor Bae Dae Kyung had his surgery demonstration at Dongyang and Foshan.
Prof. Bae shared presented medial pivot knee design rationale, how the prosthesis restore natural knee kinematics with its medial ball-in-socket for rotation and lateral path for sliding and roll-back. Meanwhile, the difference between medial pivot knee and traditional PS Knee are emphasized, especially the function and advantage of the medial pivot design without post-cam mechanism work to reduce poly ware and enhance knee stability. Prof. Bae demonstrated step-by-step the medial pivot knee surgical technique, including sequence of osteotomy and soft tissue balance, deformity correction and soft tissue balance for varus and valgus knee with flexion contracture patient and analysis of mid-long term clinical result from local center and multi-center study. According to Prof. Bae, medial pivot knee has been implanted in 1146 knee cases by 8 study centers, and result shows the survivorship reaches 97% after nine years follow-up. Prof. Bae emphasized several times that the goal of TKA is to restore fine joint function, range of motion and precise axial alignment. Such a goal requires a stable and wear resistant prosthesis. Medial pivot knee, with its socket articulation design and adequate tibia coverage (medial 97%, lateral 89%), has natural stability, less osteotomy and less wear, which lays the foundation of a successful TKA surgery.
In the roadshow, Professor Bae Dae Kyung discussed with many doctors about the internal axis of the knee joint, with the innovative design becoming a hot topic. The discussion also included the treatment of severe internal and external malformations, postoperative analgesia and hemostasis, rehabilitation management and other related content. To solve these problems, Professor Bae Dae Kyung gave a detailed answer based on his own experience.
This time MicroPort® Orthopedics COA China roadshow not only introduced the design concept of the axis knee joint, popularized the knee prosthesis design trend, but also answered questions from domestic doctors on total knee arthroplasty. In the future, MicroPort® Orthopedics will continue to regularly carry out such activities, be committed to improve the level of domestic development, and provide a better solution for doctors and patients.
Release of New Products in "MicroPort® Night"
In the evening of November 19, the “MicroPort® Night” was held by MicroPort® Spine Trauma (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. (MicroPort® Spine Trauma). It’s a strategic partnership and new technology dissemination party. Strategic partners of southwest region participated in the activities. More than 90 medical professionals and nearly 10 new contracted regional distributors from Sichuan, Chongqing, Guizhou and other provinces were invited to attend.
We released two new products at the night-- Takin™ Spinal Internal Fixation System (Takin™) and PISCIS® Thoracic Lumbar Intervertebral Fusion Device System (PISCIS®). Takin™ is one kind of general spinal internal fixation system, applied to the thoracic, lumbar, sacral, iliac and spine anterior or posterior internal fixation. PISCIS® is made of PEEK-Optioma® material, which is suitable for a variety of surgical techniques, and thus makes it possible to maintain the intervertebral height, support vertebral body, restore the sagittal balance, and ultimately achieve fusion.
At the scene, many clinical experts had deep discussions on the instruments and the internal plant of MicroPort® Spine Trauma, and expressed their willingness of clinical practice. Professor Xianming Pan from Chengdu Military General Hospital said that people are looking forward to products which have high quality and reasonably prices. MicroPort® Spine Trauma can provide such kind of localization products. Manufacturing of these products is also a long term task to do in the field of Chinese Orthopaedic.