An orthopedic hospital in Coimbatore, India, has introduced a knee implant that the hospital claims is designed specifically for the Asian anatomy and life style. The development of the implant was an outgrowth of a knowledge exchange program in the field of knee replacement with the hospital and Adam Cote, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon from Carson City, Michigan.
Knee Implant for Asian Bodies
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Cote said this new implant will suit the Indian life style demands, which call for significant bending of the knee many times beyond 150 degrees. “It was always been an Indian doctor’s challenge to provide the joint that was a perfect fit for the patient’s anatomy, conserves bone and at the same time is able to give a high flexion life style.”
The ‘freedom knee’ implant (Maxx Medical, Mumbai, India and Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania) is made of cobalt chromium with hardened polyethylene. Dr. M. Muthu Saravana Kumar, orthopedic and joint replacement surgeon and chief of Muthu’s Hospital said the knee would suit the Indian patients with smaller sizes of knees and hip as compared to those in the United States and UK.
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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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