Blue Belt Technologies, Inc. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a company owned by HealthpointCapital, announced the first NavioPFS knee replacement procedure that was successfully performed in the United Kingdom in October 2012. The surgeon was Alberto Gregori at Hairmyres Hospital, Scotland. Blue Belt Technologies completed its first European surgery in Pellenberg, Belgium in July 2012. According to Blue Belt officials, the NavioPFS surgical system represents a new generation of smart instrumentation with robotic control.
Blue Belt Debuts Robotic Surgery in UK
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“The system worked flawlessly and delivered an accurate placement and alignment of the prosthesis, one of our prime goals in knee replacement surgery, ” said Gregori. “We have successfully used navigation to optimally implant total knee prostheses for 11 years but with the NavioPFS we have integrated bone preparation along with planning and alignment into one seamless process in the operating theatre.” The NavioPFS system includes a handpiece described by the company as being a “precision execution tool allowing accurate bone sculpting.”
Commenting on the procedure, Eric B. Timko, President and CEO of Blue Belt Technologies, said, “We couldn’t be happier with the initial clinical results of the NavioPFS system. With every new surgery, NavioPFS is establishing a consistent pattern of strong initial clinical outcomes with highly precise implant placement. We are looking forward to further expanding throughout the United Kingdom as well as Europe.”
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This is a fascinating development. In my practice we've seen similar outcomes with the revised protocol. The key differentiator seems to be patient selection criteria. Has anyone else noticed the correlation with BMI thresholds?
Great point. I'd push back slightly on the conclusion, the sample size in the cited study is too small to draw population-level inferences. That said, the directional signal is compelling and worth a larger RCT.
We implemented a similar approach last year. Early results are promising but we're still gathering 12-month follow-up data. Happy to share our protocol if anyone is interested.
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