Hong Kong, China – On July 21, MicroPort® Orthopedics organized a two-day training course regarding total knee arthroplasty ("TKA") surgical technique in Hong Kong. Ten knee replacement experts from Zhejiang, Hebei, Jiangsu, Heilongjiang, Chongqing, Guangdong, Shandong and Hunan provinces attended the course to get a deeper understanding in the design rationale and surgical techniques of the medial-pivot knee.
The training course was chaired by Peter KY Chiu, a clinical professor and head of Ortho Recon of the Department of Orthopaedics & Traumatology of the University of Hong Kong, Queen Mary Hospital. As a renowned orthopedic expert, Professor Chiu is a life member of the Hong Kong Orthopaedic Association ("HKOA"). Professor Chiu has been engaged in providing medical education of knee surgical techniques to the Chinese mainland surgeons since 1998. From 2001, approximately 1,700 mainland orthopedic surgeons have come to Hong Kong for the surgical training.
This training course focused on how to apply TKA theories to practice. Professor Chun-Hoi Yan, Hon. Secretary of HKOA and Chairman of Adult Joint Recon of HKOA, introduced the biomechanics of a natural knee, following the highlights of the design rationale of the medial-pivot knee. He vividly illustrated the development of the medial pivot knee system, from the initial inspirations of natural knee clinical studies, the pros and cons of the traditional knee prosthesis, to the invention and application of the medial pivot knee. After learning about the medial-pivot knee theoretically, the trainees were divided into four groups for operation demonstrations. The faculty team of Queen Mary Hospital explained to them key surgical skills from approach selection and soft tissue balance skills, to bone cut, alignment management, and sizer management.
During the training, Professor Chun-Hoi Yan introduced to trainees the anatomical alignment technique, an emerging surgical technique he has been trying out recently. The technique is gaining higher recognition in the US and Europe markets. It is used to implant the knee prosthesis with anatomical alignment, instead of the mechanical alignment which is the traditional surgical technique. Since the traditional surgical technique changes the alignment of the natural knee, it would exert negative impact on the post-operation experience of patients and the functional stability of the knee prosthesis. Developed based on the relative findings of TKA by Mayo Clinic in the US, the anatomical alignment technique aims to maximize restoring the patient's knee function. During the surgery demonstration, Professor Yan said, EVOLUTION™ CR System is the perfect prosthesis to work with the anatomical alignment technique as it is the total knee prosthesis reserving the most bone and soft tissue and designed in line with biomechanical characters of a natural knee. Meanwhile, EVOLUTION™ CR System achieved clinical outcome exceeding expectations in the first patient enrolled for the follow-up study.
This training course provided a thorough comprehension of the design rationale of the medial pivot knee as well as its advantages compared to traditional knee prostheses. Meanwhile, it is expected that the EVOLUTION™ surgical techniques the trainees learnt from the course would lay the foundation for them to carry out EVOLUTION™ surgeries in their local hospitals in the future. MicroPort® Orthopedics will continue to work closely with the Department of Orthopaedics & Traumatology of the University of Hong Kong to launch more TKA training courses, allowing more orthopedic surgeons to understand and use the medial pivot knee so as to benefit more patients.