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Weekly News, Analysis, and Commentary

Death of the Device Salesman

Image created by RRY Publications, LLC / Source: Wikimedia Commons and Rico Shen
Image created by RRY Publications, LLC / Source: Wikimedia Commons and Rico Shen

As if orthopedic device sale reps don’t have enough to worry about, Wright Medical’s CEO, Robert Palmisano announced on April 30, that the company would now be marketing and selling their orthopedic devices directly to the hospital’s paymasters. Read the details here.

OrthoView Advances Pre-Operative Planning

OrthoView Website

OrthoView, a company providing digital pre-operative planning software, is announcing the launch of OrthoView PSL (private user license), a subscription-based OrthoView templating solution meant to ease the pre-operative planning process. According to the company, there are over 5,000 orthopedic surgeons in the U.S.  now using OrthoView, and the software is installed worldwide in over 1,850…

Researchers Create Bone From iPS Skin Cells

Desmosome Cell Junction / Source: Wikimedia Commons and Holly Fisher

A group of scientists from the New York Stem Cell Foundation Research Institute (NYSCF) has succeeded in generating patient-specific bone substitutes from skin cells for the repair of large bone defects. The researchers took skin cells and, utilizing an advanced technique called “reprogramming,” turned the adult skin cells back into an embryonic-like state. (These induced…

New Slippery Polymer for Joint Injections?

Slippery when wet / Source: Wikimedia Commons and Michael Perekas

Creaking joints may get some longer lasting lubricant from work done by biomedical engineering Professor Mark W. Grinstaff and his colleagues at Boston University. They have developed a new synthetic polymer that works like synovial fluid, the natural lubricant in joints.

Natural Fibers Good Stem Cell Matrix

Fibers / Source: Wikimedia Commons and Setral Chemie GmbH

Stem cells need a partner if they are to be biologically effective as regenerators of cartilage tissue. University of Bristol researchers in the United Kingdom believe they may have found that partner. In a study published in Biomacromolecules they explored the feasibility of using naturally occurring fibers such as cellulose and silk for stem cell…

Limbs Will Be Spared: New Clamp Approved

Combat Ready Clamp / Source: Combat Medical Systems

The Combat Ready Clamp, a vise-like tourniquet, has just received new critical indications from the FDA making it the first device of its kind approved to treat unmanageable amputations and pelvic wounds not addressable with standard limb tourniquets. The Combat Ready Clamp is a now approved for use on all five anatomical junctions where life-threatening…

Weight Gain Likely Following Knee Arthroplasty

Source: Wikimedia Commons and Alisdair Maclean

As if getting a new knee was not traumatic enough, a new study indicates that a significant post-surgery weight gain is likely to follow. Nancy Walsh, staff writer for MedPage Today, reports May 1 that on an adjusted multivariable analysis, recipients of knee arthroplasty were 60% more likely to gain 5% or more of their…

Neuraxial Anesthesia Best for Joint Replacement Surgery

Pain Signaling in the Neural Network / Source: Wikimedia Commons and National Institute of Aging

A way to improve outcomes of patients undergoing hip or knee replacements, according to a new study by researchers at Hospital for Special Surgery, is to change the kind of anesthesia. They found that the use of neuraxial anesthesia (also known as spinal or epidural anesthesia) reduced the risk of pulmonary compromise by twofold in…

Best Chance for Doc Fix

U.S. Capitol / Source: Wikimedia Commons and M. Fitzsimmons

Improving federal government finances may open a brief window to overhaul Medicare’s flawed physician payment system. In the midst of rising government revenue from tax collections and bailout paybacks shrinking the federal deficit faster than expected, the Democrat chair and Republican leader of the Senate Finance Committee, Max Baucus and Orrin Hatch, sent letters to…

Adolescent Scoliosis: First Gene Discovered

Posterior-to-anterior X-ray of a case of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. Source: Wikimedia Commons and Silverjonny

Big news from Japan…Researchers from the RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences have identified the first gene to be associated with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) across Asian and Caucasian populations. The gene is involved in the growth and development of the spine during childhood. Dr. Ikuyo Kou and Dr. Shiro Ikegawa have just published their…

Health Spending Slowdown Continues

Source: Wikimedia Commons and GeorgHH

The nation’s health care piggy bank is looking a little better. Health care spending growth slowed in the U.S. by more than $500 billion between 2003 and 2012. If trends continue for the next decade, current projections of spending may be too high by $770 billion.

Hand Shape Related to Carpal Tunnel

Source: Wikimedia Commons and Encmstr

Does the shape of your hands determine if you will get carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS)? It might. A study in the Wall Street Journal, found that people with short, wide hands and square-shaped wrists might be more prone to getting carpal tunnel syndrome.

Government Forcing Orthopods Into Primary Care? 500th O-Arm Installed and much more…

Congenital dislocation x-ray / Source: Wikimedia and James Heilman, MD
Congenital dislocation x-ray / Source: Wikimedia and James Heilman, MD

A disconnect between the number of medical school graduates and residency slots means the government could force orthopedic surgeons into primary care. Medtronic Spine installs its 500th O-Arm using GPS-like mapping. Javad Parvizi, M.D. saysEureka!, finds THE gene for hip dysplasia…and more.

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Zimmer Cuts Jobs in Warsaw

Photo Creation by RRY Publications LLC / Source: Morguefile and solrac_gi_2nd

Almost 50 full time employees have lost their jobs at Zimmer Holdings, Inc.’s Warsaw, Indiana, operations. The Journal Gazette of Ft. Wayne, Indiana, reported on May 10, 2013 that Zimmer cut less than 50 full-time jobs at its Kosciusko County operation, which employed about 1,500 as of December 31, 2012. Worldwide, the company employs over…

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MedShape: FDA Nod for Eclipse

Courtesy: MedShape, Inc.

MedShape, Inc. has announced the receipt of FDA 510(k) clearance for its Eclipse Soft Tissue Anchor, a new shape memory fixation device designed to attach a tendon, ligament or soft tissue to bone. The product is made of MedShape’s proprietary PEEK (polyether ether ketone) Altera material, and offers a non-rotational insertion method that allows for improved fixation strength.

Surgeon Transplants Shin Bone With Meniscus

Source: Wikimedia commons and Joseph Swafford

The Edmonton Journal (Canada) reports an uncommon surgery performed for the first time in the area. Orthopedic surgeon Nadr Jomha transplanted a shin bone, complete with the cartilage and meniscus to reconstruct the knee of a 22-year-old man who had suffered a serious workplace injury.

Children’s Stem Cell Treatment Tied to Readmissions

US Navy Childrens Hospital Burn Ward. Source: Wikimedia Commons and U.S. Navy

Close to two-thirds of children who received stem cell transplants returned to the hospital within six months for treatment of unexplained fevers, infections or other problems. Children who received their own cells were half as likely to be readmitted as were children who received donor cells.

Certification: Scam or Public Safety?

Image created by RRY Publications, LLC
Image created by RRY Publications, LLC

New Jersey continues to be ground-zero for credentialing battles as the Association of American Physicians & Surgeons sues the American Board of Medical Specialties over the Board’s certification program. The complaint? Certification programs principally enrich private corporations at the expense of doctors. Really? We lift the veil.

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