ConforMIS, a medical device company, has announced results from several clinical research studies highlighting the benefits of the iTotal customized total knee replacement.
Results were shown this week at the British Association for Surgery of the Knee (BASK) meeting in Norwich, UK.
The iTotal system, the only customized total knee replacement system on the market, demonstrated zero blood transfusions and positive clinical outcomes. A recent Cleveland Clinic study reported a 12% rate of blood transfusions for traditional, off-the-shelf knee replacements.
These transfusions were associated with increased costs of over $2,200 per incident, longer hospital stays and a higher incidence of complications.1 In a review of 106 iTotal replacements, including 15 simultaneous bilateral replacements, there were no blood transfusions required.
Even more important, 100% of patients reported a normal feeling knee only seven months after the procedure. This is in contrast to high dissatisfaction rates reported in the literature, ranging from 15% to 39% of knee replacement patients with standard, off-the-shelf implants.
ConforMIS chairman and CEO Dr Philipp Lang noted that the company is very pleased to see further clinical evidence showing that the ConforMIS patient-specific technology is not only helping surgeons to improve patient outcomes with knee replacements, but the technology is also contributing meaningful cost savings to the healthcare system.
"We believe that by providing a customized implant, patients will recover faster, quickly return to normal, everyday activities and ultimately forget they even had a knee replacement," Dr Lang added.