SNN Launches Q-FIX All-Suture Anchor

There are new options for shoulders and hips these days, with the launch of the Smith & Nephew Q-FIX All-Suture Anchor. According to the company, the Q-FIX is meant to address conditions involving tight spaces such as rotator cuff repair and labrum repair.

“The Q-FIX All-Suture Anchor is a great option for hip labral repair, ” said J.W. Thomas Byrd, M.D. of The Nashville Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Center in Nashville, Tennessee, in the March 25, 2015 news release. “Its small size allows surgeons to access tight spaces in the hip and the radially expanding anchor provides exceptionally reliable performance.”

According to the news release, “Unlike the performance of other all-suture anchors which can vary based on factors such as poor knot deployment or a surgeon’s ability to fully tension the suture by hand, the Q-FIX implant uses a unique, radially expanding implant that fully deploys at the same depth within the bone every time. The Q-FIX anchor also uses an exclusive deployment dial located on the inserter’s handle to automatically tighten the suture to a target of 140 Newtons—three times more than is possible using hand tensioning. Insufficient tensioning can result in micromotion caused by the suture’s natural elasticity, which may reduce anchor performance.”

“The Q-FIX implant is the next generation in the design of all-suture anchors, ” says Scott Schaffner, vice president, Global Sports Medicine Franchise for Smith & Nephew, in the news release. “It offers surgeons the benefits and flexibility they love with all-suture anchors, as well as the fixation and pull-out strength they expect from much larger, hard anchors.”

Schaffner told OTW, “One of the specific needs we wanted to address with the design of Q-Fix was ensuring the reliability of implant deployment, an issue with many of the first generation all-suture anchors currently on the market. This is a challenging requirement from a design and development standpoint. However, our engineers were able to incorporate features within the implant inserter handle to make anchor deployment simple for the surgeon user, more consistent, and reliable.”

“A year from now, we expect Q-Fix anchors to be commonly used in a variety of procedures, including rotator cuff repairs. The strength of Q-Fix, a direct result of the anchor’s unique design, makes it suitable for biomechanically demanding applications surgeons could not confidently approach with other all-suture anchors.”