Orthopedic and spine surgery supplier Medacta Group SA is partnering with orthopedic robotics supplier THINK Surgical® to bring a total knee replacement robotic system to the United States.
Medacta Gets ‘THINK’ing TKA Robotics
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Secondary#gmksphere#mysolutions#thinksurgical
The partnership will utilize THINK Surgical’s robotic, wireless hand-held TMINI® Miniature Robotic System for total knee replacement surgery. Per the THINK Surgical website, the TMINI system was designed to “enable accurate implant placement and accelerate uptake of orthopedic robotics.” The TMINI system will be utilized with Medacta’s GMK Sphere and GMK SpheriKA.
The GMK Sphere is a total knee implant. According to the company, it is “designed to deliver maximum functional stability with the goal of increasing TKA [total knee arthroplasty] patient satisfaction during activities of daily living and decreasing post-operative knee pain.”
Medacta’s GMK SpheriKA is a kinematic alignment optimized implant. Per the Medacta website, kinematic alignment “aims at restoring the native pre-arthritic alignment through true anatomic resurfacing without ligament releases, allowing for more natural knee kinematics.”
Medacta USA Managing Director and President Matt Goudy told OTW, “I am pleased to announce our collaboration with THINK Surgical in the U.S. Market.”
Goudy continued, “This partnership marks another step forward in our commitment to offering cutting-edge technologies that drive sustainable innovation forward and enhance our ability to deliver personalized solutions for surgeons and patients worldwide.”
The THINK Surgical TMINI system complements Medacta’s portfolio of technologies for knee arthroplasty. Notably, the system per the press release, provides “surgeons with a robotic-assisted option to execute meticulous 3D CT-based preoperative planning.”
Medacta’s technology includes the MySolutions Ecosystem, a digital solution dedicated to personalized 3D planning. The partnership will complement the MySolutions Ecosystem while also enabling Medacta to expand its technology focus to include the evaluation of robotics in the United States market. The partnership will also contribute to Medacta’s focus in the Ambulatory Surgery Center segment.
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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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