Mountain Climb With a Hip Prosthesis? Lima Corporate Says Yes!

Romano Benet from the Friuli Venezia Giulia region in Italy and his wife Nives Meroi are avid mountain climbers and are the first couple, according to a Lima Corporate press release, to successfully reach 14 peaks above 8.000m, and Benet is the 16th man in history to climb the 14 highest peaks in the world without the use of oxygen, but there was a time when he worried that he might have to hang up his climbing gear.

When Benet started to have hip problems and needed reconstructive surgery, he didn’t know if that part of his life would have to be over. He never gave up hope though.

Benet said in the release, “I couldn’t believe that after the surgeries I wouldn’t have been able to come back to my normal life. The surgeon told me that I could do some sports, but I have always believed in myself and in my capacities to react to the unexpected events. What is important is to have willpower and the confidence of the people close to you.”

That will and determination paid off. With the help of two Lima Corporate total hip prostheses, one implanted in 2013 and the other in 2015, he is back to scaling new heights with his wife. According to the release, the last three peaks he reached were with the hip prostheses implanted.

The two Lima Corporate total hip prosthesis include two Delta One Trabecular Titanium cups featuring Trabecular Titanium and two Minima Stems. The Trabecular Titanium was made using 3D printing technologies developed by Lima Corporate.

“We were delighted to know that Romano Benet, from our backyard, had climbed the highest peaks of the world with his wife, but still more impressed to find that Lima Corporate was somehow partner to this adventure, ” Luigi Ferrari, company CEO also added in the release.

Silvio Demitri, chief of orthopedic department trauma unit at the ASUIUD Academic Hospital in Udine, Italy, was the doctor who performed both surgeries on Benet.

“This achievement can only make me proud, but Romano’s performance is to be considered extraordinary due to the two hip prostheses. This result cannot be considered as ‘normal’ but as an extraordinary event which led me to think about integration potentiality of Trabecular Titanium and how this can actually improve high demanding patients’ lives,” he said in the release.

Lima Corporate, headquartered in Friuli Venezia Giulia, is a global medical device company that provides reconstructive orthopaedic solutions to surgeons.