Custom Implants Are the Way of the Future
The word ‘customised’ is often used to refer to a tailor-made suit, or a one-off piece of special jewellery. Custom items are made specifically for the customer, to fit their size, shape, style and needs. It’s a term often associated with luxury because it’s the opposite of ‘off-the-shelf’ or mass produced. A customised item is made to measure and unique.
Custom items are no longer restricted to consumer goods, though. These days, customised and patient-specific orthopedic implants are becoming more easily available, and with a shorter turnaround time than many orthopedic surgeons or patients may expect.
Until recently, custom implants have generally only been used for oncology cases, or for patients with more unusual bone anatomy. But, with more companies such as OSSIS producing custom implants, there are fewer limits on who can access these types of implants.
That’s good news for patients who are in pain or immobilised, and it’s good news for the orthopedic surgeons who treat them.
Quality, quickly.
For a long time, getting a custom implant meant a compromise in terms of speed or cost. The work-flow when producing a typical custom orthopedic implant looks like this:
Patient undergoes a CT scan.
Surgeon sends the scan to the orthopedic implant company.
Engineer designs an implant solution and sends a plastic model to the surgeon.
Surgeon approves the design based on the plastic model.
This process can take many weeks. In the meantime, the patient is suffering and the burden of cost and care falls on the healthcare system. A patient with trauma or a sarcoma has little time to spare sitting around waiting for an implant to be designed and delivered. The longer it takes for old-style custom orthopedic implants to be designed, manufactured, and perfected, the higher the human and monetary cost.
Further, every body and every medical issue is different. One-size-fits-all implants aren’t always an appropriate choice for the patient, even when their case is not otherwise complicated.
In contrast, an OSSIS implant can be designed and delivered within four weeks, sometimes less. This is partly thanks to the revolutionary 3D printed technology OSSIS uses via its manufacturing partners. It’s never been easier to create custom orthopedic implants according to individual measurements and requirements.
Another reason for this rapid turnaround is that everyone working at OSSIS, at every step of the design and supply chain, is an expert in what they do. Surgeons can discuss their patient’s requirements directly with an expert engineer. Because the engineer speaks the same medical language and understands the surgeon’s queries, no time is lost trying to explain difficult concepts to the person designing the implant.
No surprises.
Orthopedic surgery is a challenging procedure for everyone involved. The last thing an orthopedic surgeon wants is to be unpleasantly surprised by something not working as expected during surgery.
There are no nasty surprises during orthopedic surgery with OSSIS custom implants. As the patient’s individual anatomy and medical issue have been built into the implant’s design, surgeons can be confident the fit will be perfect.
OSSIS provides detailed navigation guides to accompany the implants. These allow the surgeon to make incisions in the patient at the right points, rather than following a one-size-fits-all approach to anatomy.
OSSIS is driving patient-specific orthopedics.
The shift towards custom and patient-specific orthopedic implants and away from one-size-fits-all is an exciting development. But, the big orthopedic companies cannot be relied upon to drive this much-needed change. Their business models rely on off-the-shelf implants, and they’re not looking to change that, even if change would be embraced by orthopedic surgeons and patients alike.
Smaller companies like OSSIS are leading this change, and will continue to do so as their design and manufacturing capabilities ramp up. Smaller companies have the ability to be more innovative and quick to respond to changing preferences from surgeons and patients.
Because of custom implants’ ability to disrupt the status quo, big orthopedic companies are likely to repeat the misconceptions that custom and patient-specific implants are expensive, time-consuming to produce, and that they create extra work for the healthcare system.
Given the choice, however, surgeons who have used OSSIS custom implants are keen to do so again. Surgeons in Australia and New Zealand cite the ease of using OSSIS implants as a reason to make the switch to custom implants.
What to expect from custom implants.
Once custom orthopedic implants become more mainstream, we can expect to see:
total and partial joints that fit well, without the need for excessive force or manipulation
bone plates and nails for complex trauma cases that fix fractures perfectly
spine fusion devices and disc replacements that are suitable for each level
meniscus, ACL, and tendon replacements made from patients’ cells
rotator cuff augmentation made from patients’ cells
If given the choice between this type of implant and trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, why wouldn’t orthopedic surgeons choose a custom orthopedic implant?
