Media Release
Medacta Announces Successful Completion of the First Australian Surgery with NextARTM TKA Augmented Reality-Based Surgical Platform following TGA Approval
CASTEL SAN PIETRO, 04 September 2020 - Medacta announced today successful completion of the first surgery utilizing its NextARTM TKA, following recent approval from Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).
The surgery was performed by Dr Michael McAuliffe (MBBS FRACS) at St Andrew's Ipswich Private Hospital in Queensland, Australia. Dr McAuliffe is a member of the expert surgeon panel that Medacta collaborated with to develop the NextARTM TKA Application.
Following the surgery, Dr McAuliffe stated that 'the NextAR Surgical System offers a rapid, intuitive and user-friendly assessment of the patient's bony anatomy, and most importantly, the soft tissues of the knee joint. Understanding both these facets allows for better personalization of the knee surgery and is likely to significantly improve patient outcomes.'
NextARTM is a very competitive solution which is perfectly in line with Medacta's strategic pillar of healthcare sustainability. Designed with the goal to improve efficiency and precision in total knee replacement and support personalized surgery, the NextARTM TKA is an augmented reality-based surgical platform for total knee replacement. This innovative platform, involving augmented reality glasses and a revolutionary infrared single-use tracking system, requires low upfront capital investment by clinics and hospitals, with significant economic benefits to the healthcare system. Dr McAuliffe also commented that 'the NextAR Augmented Reality Smart glasses provided a practical benefit to the surgical workflow, allowing visualization of all the necessary information in real-time.'
Claire Thurwood, CEO of St Andrew's Ipswich Private Hospital, said: 'St Andrew's Ipswich Private Hospital is delighted to broaden its suite of surgical options for patients requiring total knee replacements, with the addition of this new platform. We are incredibly invested in ensuring that our patients and surgeons have access to state-of-the-art technology, with the aim of improving patient outcomes. St Andrew's Ipswich has grown significantly in size over the past two years, and embracing new technology will play a large role in our future moving forward.'
By collaborating with expert surgeons from all over the world, Medacta is able to develop innovative products and solutions in-house with minimal lead-time. Dr McAuliffe used the NextARTM TKA in conjunction with the Medacta GMK Sphere Medially Stabilized Knee implant. This innovative total knee implant is designed to deliver maximum functional stability and to facilitate restoration of natural patient-specific kinematics.
Francesco Siccardi, CEO of Medacta, said 'I am very proud of this successful first surgery with our new NextAR TKA. I'd like to thank all the NextAR Development Team, surgeons and engineers that made this vision become a fantastic product in such a short period of time. The feedback we are receiving is very positive and I am confident that it will be a game-changer in the years to come. We look forward to extending this technology to spine, shoulder, and hip procedures, with the goal of improving the experience of orthopaedic surgeons and their patients with a very competitive and sustainable healthcare solution.'
For more information on the NextARTM Platform, please visit nextar.medacta.com
Contact
Medacta International SA
Gianluca Olgiati
Senior Director Global Marketing
Phone: +41 91 696 60 60
media@medacta.ch
About Medacta
Medacta is an international company specialized in the design and production of innovative orthopaedic products and the development of accompanying surgical techniques for joint replacement, spine surgery, and sports medicine. Established in 1999 in Switzerland, Medacta's products and surgical techniques are characterized by innovation. Medacta is a pioneer in developing new offerings on the basis of minimally invasive surgical techniques, in particular its Anterior Minimally Invasive Surgery (AMIS) technique for hip replacements. Medacta has leveraged its orthopaedic expertise and comprehensive understanding of the human body to develop the sophisticated MySolutions technology, which offers surgeons highly personalized pre-operative planning and implant placement methodologies by creating advanced personalized kinematic models and 3D planning tools for use in hip, knee, shoulder and spine procedures.
