Walter Eisner • Tue, May 14th, 2013
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.
| Share | Posted in: Company News, Featured, Large Joints, Reimbursement
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…
| Share | Posted in: Company News
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…
| Share | Posted in: Biologics
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.
| Share | Posted in: Large Joints
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…
| Share | Posted in: Biologics
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…
| Share | Posted in: Trauma
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…
| Share | Posted in: Large Joints
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…
| Share | Posted in: Large Joints
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…
| Share | Posted in: Reimbursement
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…
| Share | Posted in: Spine
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.
| Share | Posted in: Reimbursement
Robin Young • Mon, May 13th, 2013
Source: Wikimedia Commons and Petermaerki
A great deal of force can be produced by preventing NiTiNOL from returning to its original shape. In an intramedullary nail NiTiNOL creates constant compressive forces during bone remodeling. Cool, yes? See it this week at AOFAS. Or here, in OTW.
| Share | Posted in: Trauma
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.
| Share | Posted in: Extremities
Integra LifeSciences Corporation is presently staging the full market release of its Hollywood VI intervertebral body fusion device (IBD) system.
| Share | Posted in: Spine
The least most expensive country was Argentina, where hip replacements cost $3,365 and knee replacements averaged $3,192. At the high end of the cost scale is the U.S. and Australia.
| Share | Posted in: Large Joints
On May 8, 2013, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released data showing significant variation across the country and within communities in what hospitals charge for common inpatient services, including orthopedic services.
| Share | Posted in: Reimbursement
Elizabeth Hofheinz, M.P.H., M.Ed. • Sat, May 11th, 2013
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.
| Share | Posted in: General Topics
Advertisement
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…
| Share | Posted in: Company News
Imagine the massive effort required to spend a full day presenting evidence to the FDA orthopedic panel to prove your device is safe and effective. SpinalMotion, Inc. is doubling down and going for two days in July.
| Share | Posted in: Company News, Legal & Regulatory, Spine
University of Colorado scientists have discovered that fat cells in the knee secrete a protein linked to arthritis, offering hope to millions worldwide.
| Share | Posted in: Large Joints
Advertisement
Robin Young • Fri, May 10th, 2013
Source: DHHS
Three aspects of CMS’ proposed payment system stand out to us. First orthopedics did ok, not great, but ok. Second the quality police are coming and 25% of all hospitals can expect to be penalized. And finally, the definition of “inpatient” is being tweaked. Oh, oh.
| Share | Posted in: Large Joints, Reimbursement, Spine
NuVasive, Inc. is verticalizing its manufacturing model by buying one of its implant suppliers. On May 6, 2013, the company announced it was acquiring ANC, LLC, a spine implant manufacturer based in Dayton, Ohio.
| Share | Posted in: Company News
DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc. actually had some good hip news on May 3, 2013, when the company announced FDA Pre-Market (PMA) Supplemental Approval for its Ceramax ceramic-on-ceramic hip system.
| Share | Posted in: Company News, Large Joints, Legal & Regulatory
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.
| Share | Posted in: Company News
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.
| Share | Posted in: Extremities
Researchers at Micro Orthopaedics, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, China, have shown that articular cartilage defects can be repaired by a novel thermo-sensitive injectable hydrogel. The hydrogel is treated with gene modified bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells (BMSCs).
| Share | Posted in: Biologics, Large Joints
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.
| Share | Posted in: Biologics
Walter Eisner • Tue, May 7th, 2013
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.
| Share | Posted in: Legal & Regulatory
Advertisement
Zimmer Holdings, Inc. announced on May 2, 2013 that the company has acquired the assets of West Chester, Pennsylvania-based and Viscogliosi Brothers, LLC-founded, Knee Creations, LLC.
| Share | Posted in: Company News
Advertisement
Elizabeth Hofheinz, M.P.H., M.Ed. • Mon, May 6th, 2013
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Stuart Weinstein, M.D., says not being involved in politics hurts the field. A Mayo Clinic orthopedic surgeons tells how they reduced LOS by nearly a day and a half. The latest on fellowship accreditation…and more.
| Share | Posted in: General Topics
NuVasive, Inc. and Globus Medical, Inc., involved in litigation with each other and in a fight for market share with Medtronic, Inc., reported 5.2% and 10.9% revenue increases, respectively, for the first quarter of 2013.
| Share | Posted in: Company News
