Knees to remember and hips to forget will likely be the big stories on the convention floor at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) the week of March 19, 2013 in Chicago, Illinois.
AAOS 2013 – More Knees
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Zimmer Holdings, Inc., and DePuySynthes are both hoping to attract surgeons to their booths to check out their new knee products. In the meantime, companies will be downplaying their metal-on-metal hip implants as failure rates continue to bring lawsuits against almost all makers of the devices.
With a whopping 26% market share in knees, Zimmer is launching a significant new knee product at AAOS in what the company has called the largest development project the company has ever undertaken.
The Persona fixed-bearing total knee system is expected by analysts like Wells Fargo’s Larry Biegelsen to make a big impact on surgeons looking at the latest technology. The Persona is being marketed as, “The Personalized Knee System.” It offers about twice as many implant sizes and requires a lot fewer number of instrument trays as Zimmer’s current knees. In theory, patients should like it better and hospitals should be able to reduce costs.
According to Biegelsen, the world’s number two knee seller, DePuySynthes, will also be launching a new fixed-bearing primary system at the exhibition.
The DePuySynthes Attune is being released in a limited launch and not much information is available before the meeting. But Biegelsen believes that many of the Persona benefits will likely be true for the Attune as well. A full launch in expected later in 2013. Apparently the Attune design team is large and filled with key opinion leaders.
Attune’s geometry is novel, says Biegelsen, and represents a significant move toward addressing many of the surgeon and patient concerns following total knee replacement. A photo of the Attune was shown during Johnson & Johnson’s analyst meeting on January 22. The Attune improves mid-flexion stability.
The last two significant knee system launches were Biomet Inc.’s Vanguard and Stryker Corporation’s Triathlon in 2004.
In the meeting rooms, surgeons will be talking about economics, reimbursements and politics with four key symposia titled:
- Accountable Care Organizations and Bundled Payments: Passing Trends or a New Paradigm?
- Measuring Quality in Orthopedics
- Debates on the use of BMP in Spine Surgery
- The Social and Economic Value of Orthopedic Surgery.
We’ll be there and report on the results.
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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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