SAN FRANCISCO, CA, Mar 06 (MARKET WIRE) --
It has been heavily researched that men and women are in fact, anatomically
different. But are they so different they require special and customized
replacement parts?
According to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), over
760,000 total hip and knee replacement procedures -- which help patients to
regain mobility and quality of life -- were performed in 2005, including:
-- 235,000 total hip replacements
-- 125,000 patients were women and 108,000 were men
-- 534,000 total knee replacements
-- 335,000 patients were women and 176,000 were men
Until recently, orthopaedic surgeons chose from an array of standard
implants
which were designed to fit both men and women patients. However, the statistics
show a larger percentage of women need joint replacement surgery. This factor
along
with recent advances in technology, have sparked the release of
gender-specific knee implants, claiming to offer women a "better fit."
"Women represent two-thirds of patients getting knee replacements," said
Aaron
Rosenberg, MD, professor in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at Rush
Medical College, Chicago. Dr. Rosenberg was involved in the development and
production of the Zimmer Gender-Specific Knee, which hit the market less than
a year ago. "The generic implants we had in the past were never specifically
designed to fit a woman," noted Dr. Rosenberg."
"The distal femur (thigh bone) in a woman's knee has a distinctly
differentshape than that of a man's," said Dr. Rosenberg. "A woman's hip
rotation
isalso different and these differences can be addressed in the implant design.
Historically, the success of knee replacement has been linked to improving
the way these implants fit the broad range of normal human anatomy, and this is
another step in that direction for what is clearly a distinguishable and
rather large group of patients," noted Dr. Rosenberg.
According to Joshua Jacobs, MD, "In many cases, these gender-specific
implants actually
do fit a woman's anatomy better." Dr. Jacobs is associate dean for Research
Development of Rush Medical College, Chicago, and associate chairman for
Academic
Programs in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. "The question we then
need to ask ourselves is does a gender-specific implant affect a patients'
clinical outcome."
The question Dr. Jacobs poses remains unanswered. Gender knee implants have
not
been on the market long enough for orthopaedic researchers to do long-term
clinical outcome studies.
However, physicians can assess the long-term clinical outcomes on regular,
non-gender specific implants, as a baseline. Two new studies, presented today
at
the AAOS 75th Annual Meeting in San Francisco, suggest a woman's clinical
outcome
is no different than a man's outcome when using regular, non-gender, standard
specific implants.
One study looked at the survivorship and clinical outcomes of both men and
women who underwent a hip replacement with a regular, non-gender, standard
specific implant. The study's lead author, Robert Barry Bourne, MD, FRCSC,
Professor, Department of Surgery, Division of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of
Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada, studied over 3,400 patients who
underwent total hip replacement. His sample included: 1,941 women and 1,537
men.
He found that women demonstrated greater life of the implant, but little
statistical difference in clinical outcome scores. "This leads one to
question the need for a gender implant," said Dr. Bourne.
"One goal in knee replacement surgery is to pick the implant that fits the
patient the best," said Dr. Jacobs. "This is done on an individual case-by-case
basis. While the gender implant is not a necessity in every case, it does
offer additional sizing options and allows the surgeon to use an implant that
may be a better fit for the patient's individual anatomy."
Dr. Jacobs will sit on a panel along with Dr. Rosenberg, Dr. Bourne,
AndrewGlassman, MD, and Timothy Brox, MD and debate, "X-Why? The Gender Implant
--
Necessity or Trend?" at a media briefing to be held Thursday, March 6, 2008
at 8:30 a.m. at the Moscone Convention Center, San Francisco in room 224.
Editor's Note: Full industry relationship disclosure information for each
AAOS
media briefing participant is available upon request. Please contact Catherine
Dolf, (Cell) (847)-894-9112 dolf@aaos.org or Lauren Pearson, (Cell)
(224)-374-8610
lpearson@aaos.org for more information.
AAOS Gender Knee Technology Overview
Dr. Bourne's abstract P041
Tim Brox, MD abstract P172
About AAOS
To view this release online, go to:
http://www.pwrnewmedia.com/2008/aaos030608_brief_genderimplant/index.html
For more information, contact:
Lauren Pearson
(224)374-8610
(847)384-4031
Email Contact
Catherine Dolf
(847)894-9112
(847)384-4034
Email Contact
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