Flower Orthopedics Corporation released a new “FlowerCube” anatomic distal radius plate with instruments on January 13, 2015.
New Distal Radius Implant From Flower Orthopedics
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The company developed the “Ready-for-Surgery” FlowerCube concept which provides implants in individual sterile packaging. According to the company, this eliminates the need for pre-op sterilization and “considerably” reduces the number of implants and instruments brought into the operating room. All the instruments are single-use and disposable. The company claims that hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers can save as much as 30% of the combined implant and instrument costs currently spent on cases.
“The anatomic distal radius plates and the new disposable instruments from Flower represent the latest evolution of the FlowerCube concept and provide an economic, efficient and versatile solution for treatment of distal radius fractures. The versatility of the plating system combined with the benefits of the Flower Ready-for-Surgery concept increase the efficiency of operative distal radius fracture management”, said Tim Niacaris, M.D., Chief of Hand Surgery at the JPS Health Network in Fort Worth, Texas, in a company press release.
According to the company, the implant set is intended for use for “internal fixation of fractures and reconstruction of bones, including the scapula, olecranon, humerus, radius, ulna, pelvis, distal tibia, fibula, hand and foot in adults and in adolescents (12-21) in whom the growth plates have fused. Examples of these internal fixations and reconstructions include compression fractures, intra-articular and extra articular fractures, displaced fractures, osteotomies, non-unions and mal-unions. The system can be used for palmar, ventral, dorsal or orthogonal application.”
Features of the implant described by the company include:
- Low profile and rounded plate edges
- Countersunk screws to reduce the risk of soft tissue irritation
- Anatomically contoured to sit flush on bone
- Targeted screw placement for fragment specific fixation
- Oblong hole with measurement marks
- Variable-angle locking and non-locking
- Targeted K-Wire holes
- Plate options: left, right
- Plate types: narrow, standard
Flower Orthopedics was co-founded in 2012 by Oliver Burckhardt and Josef Zrinski. The company’s implants and instruments are manufactured by German-based Zrinski AG.
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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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