Hong Kong, China – Recently, MicroPort® Orthopedics hosted the third training course regarding total knee arthroplasty ("TKA") surgical technique in Queen Mary Hospital of the University of Hong Kong. A total of 13 knee replacement experts from Shanghai, Guangxi, Henan, Guizhou, Inner Mongolia, Jiangsu, Heilongjiang, Chongqing, Guangdong, Shandong and Hunan provinces attended the course to get a deeper understanding in the medial-pivot knee and exchange ideas on surgical techniques, blood management, pain management, and postoperative recovery.
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 design rationale of the medial-pivot knee and shared the key points of the medial pivot knee surgeries. 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. Professor Peter KY Chiu and Professor Chun-Hoi Yan explained to them key surgical skills from approach selection and soft tissue balance skills, to bone cut, alignment management, and sizer management.
As one of the well-known knee systems in the world, EVOLUTION® has gained high market recognition after it was launched in the US in 2010, later sold to Europe and Japan, and entered the Chinese mainland market and the Hong Kong market in 2015. According to a study evaluating long-term clinical and radiographic outcomes of the medial pivot knee system published in The Knee, the results demonstrate excellent clinical outcomes for both satisfaction (95%) and survivorship (98.8%) at 17 years with patients noting a great sense of stability and comfort during regular activities.
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. In 2018, MicroPort® Orthopedics will continue to work closely with Queen Mary Hospital 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.