Advantage #1: A breakthrough design
One of the phenomenon of the total knee replacement is the loss of the ACL, the ligament that runs up the front and in between the condyles of your shin and thigh bone. After knee replacement surgery, this ligament is no longer present. In fact, in some patients, this ligament is no longer functioning long before surgery. This means that the knee behaves differently than it does when the ligament is present and functioning normally. During movement of a healthy knee, the contact axis between the thigh and shin bone (the point where the two bones meet and rotate) is on the medial or inside of the knee joint, the spot where your knees touch when they are together. After surgery, because of the absence of the ACL, the contact axisshifts to the outer quadrantof the joint surface (the lateral side).
The 3DKnee™ is the only implant that addresses this difference. The cartilage replacement is precisely sculpted to work with Mother Nature and the different mechanics of an artificial knee joint. This, in turn, allows the sections of the implant to fit together with greater stability and move more smoothly. The result is greater joint strength and the best potential range of motion, as well as reduced stress on the individual parts, which can add years to the life expectancy of the implant.
Advantage #2: Proven materials, engineered more precisely
Many knee implant manufacturers try to minimize the friction and stresses created during the movement of a replacement knee by introducing materials such as ceramic coatings. The 3DKnee, on the other hand, uses only compression-molded, ultra-high molecular weight Polyethylene and a super alloy of cobalt and chrome — proven materials that have a long history of reliable performance and biocompatibility. The 3DKnee difference isn’t the materials we use—it’s how we’ve engineered those materials to microscopic tolerances to accommodate the motion of a replacement joint.
Advantage #3: A longer-lasting implant
When W. Andrew Hodge, M.D. and Scott Banks, Ph. D. began working together at MIT more than fifteen years ago, they were concerned with early failure in the polyethylene used as the cartilage replacement. They also noted that the range of motion of these knee implants was surprisingly limited. Unless knee implants could be made more dependable and longer lasting, younger patients would be essentially excluded from total knee replacement.
Advantage #4: Scientific proof
Despite the great track records and years of experience of the world’s leading implant manufacturers, the research quickly showed that even the best artificial joints with the longest wear lives could be greatly improved upon. In a specially designed state-of-the-art laboratory W. Andrew Hodge, MD and Dr. Banks conducted thousands of trials using high-speed motion analysis, military imaging and fluoroscopy (moving x-rays) to actually see what was going on inside active, well-funtioning total knee patients while they worked in various tasks: walking, climbing stairs, doing deep knee bento gaids and kneeling. Then they overlaid the X-ray videos with 3D CAD renderings of the exact implants each patient received to gain very precise images of exactly what the knee does and how it wears on artificial joints. This real-time 3D visioning of the mechanics of the total kneereplacement is the foundation for the many 3DKnee engineering innovations.
Dr. Banks was able to predict a wear pattern on the cartilage insert that matched the patient’s actual wear pattern within .5 millimeters, about the thickness of a human hair. This capacity to create precise and customized implants with completely predictable wear patterns addresses the vulnerability in old implant technology and creates a new standard for what knee replacement surgery is capable of. In fact, in September 2003, at the International Society of Technology Meeting in San Francisco, Dr. Banks received the prestigious Hap Paul award for his innovative work used in the development of the 3DKnee.