Mar 1, 2016 | By Benedict

Global medical technology business Smith & Nephew has developed a 3D printed titanium hip implant. The REDAPT Revision Acetabular Fully Porous Cup with CONCELOC Technology is being showcased at this week’s American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida.

Today marks the first day of the AAOS Annual Meeting, a five-day event at which numerous medical experts, academics, and businesses will offer a range of courses and presentations to a large and diverse audience. With 3D printing becoming a more and more widely used technology within the medical world, the AAOS Annual Meeting will be showcasing its fair share of orthopaedic 3D printing techniques and products.

Several academic papers will be presented at the huge Orlando event, on subjects such as the resection of bone sarcoma using 3D printed guides, the use of 3D printing for shaft fractures of clavicles, and the use of 3D printed models in the preoperative planning of shoulder and elbow surgery. In addition to the academic presentations, participants will also have a chance to see new 3D printing technologies up close, with a scientific exhibit being held on each of the meeting’s five days, demonstrating the wide range of 3D printed technologies now available in the field.

Smith & Nephew, a specialist in orthopaedic reconstruction, advanced wound management, and sports medicine, is one of several companies demonstrating new 3D printed products at the AAOS scientific exhibit (booth 1945, if you happen to be there). The medical giant will unveil its 3D printed REDAPT cup today, a product designed for use in revision cases where damaged bone makes it difficult to attach implants. Titanium (Ti-6Al-4V) powder was 3D printed to create an entirely porous implant, one which can allow ingrowth and which mimics the structure of cancellous bone. New variable angle locking screws can be used to improve stability and minimize movement.

"We're excited about the creative possibilities this new manufacturing process holds for surgeons and their patients," said Mike Donoghue, Vice President of Global Reconstruction at Smith & Nephew. "Bringing to market a 3D printed titanium acetabular cup for difficult revision procedures is just one example of the potential of this remarkable technology.”

Smith & Nephew’s 3D printed hip implant is being presented as an alternative to external porous coatings, such as sintered beads and fiber mesh used in similar cases to allow bone ingrowth—a process which helps to secure the implant in place. Implants will not work successfully if such a process does not occur, and the new REDAPT Variable Angle Locking Screws help to ensure steady, stationary contact between implant and bone. The screws work with the unique geometry of the 3D printed implant to provide compression and a rigid construct to the acetabular shell.

"This fully porous cup gives surgeons flexibility in ways that simply weren't possible before," said Craig Della Valle, MD, Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who participated on the surgeon design team for the new REDAPT cup. "The locking screws, screw-in trials, purpose-built liners and screw hole patterns optimized for hard-to-access areas really set it apart during a revision procedure. This cup builds on good technology and turns it into something spectacular.”

Smith & Nephew received FDA clearance for its 3D printed REDAPT cup in November 2015. The implant is currently available at select US sites.

 

 

Posted in 3D Printing Application

 

 

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