Pre 2002 Press Releases

Saint Barnabas Medical Center Physician Pioneers New Unicompartmental Knee System

Livingston, NJ -- A breakthrough minimally invasive surgical procedure that has helped thousands of people avoid total knee replacement surgery is now available to an even greater number of people, due to a revolutionary new system for partial, or unicompartmental, knee replacement surgery. The system uses new and improved instrumentation created specifically to fit the smaller incision necessary for the unicompartmental procedure.

"This was the most exciting development discussed at the February meeting of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons," said Richard Rosa, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon at Saint Barnabas Medical Center, who helped design the new system. "Our goal was to develop the best unicompartmental implant and instrumentation system available and the feedback from orthopedic surgeons has been overwhelmingly positive. They say they are far more likely to consider performing this procedure on their patients with the new instrumentation."

Unicompartmental knee replacement surgery, first introduced in the early 1970's, received a resurgence of interest in recent years with the development of minimally invasive techniques. Instead of replacing the entire knee, the physician performing partial knee replacement surgery replaces only one of three knee compartments. Since most arthritis patients have one compartment with the most severe cartilage loss, the orthopedic surgeon can replace just the diseased compartment, thereby preserving the rest of the patient's own knee. This results in more normal knee function and preservation of bone in case future surgery is necessary.

The minimally invasive technique requires only a three to four-inch incision,
and results in a shorter recovery time with little or no physical therapy, as compared to three months of intensive therapy following total knee replacement.

The new ADVANCE ® Unicompartmental Knee System, developed and designed by Dr. Rosa and Tennessee-based Wright Medical Technology, provides an implant with a more anatomically accurate design for a better fit and less contact stress. The new design increases the conformity of the implant over other systems, decreases wear and tear and extends the life span of the implant.

The attraction for surgeons, Dr. Rosa says, is a streamlined system with new instrumentation that is specifically designed for use in a smaller incision. With the new instruments, surgeons can produce consistent results with a far greater degree of accuracy than current systems.

Until now, Dr. Rosa said, surgeons doing unicompartmental surgery had to choose between using bulky instrumentation designed for larger incisions or hand held burrs, which are used without alignment guides and make it difficult to replicate results. Because unicompartmental knee surgery uses a much smaller incision-about three inches long as compared to 10 to 12 inches for total knee replacement--much of the existing equipment is unwieldy and not fully applicable. The new technology, which was designed specifically for use with a small incision, also provides alignment guides to allow surgeons to prepare the knee bone and insert the implant in exactly the same position each time.

"In the past, a surgeon using the burr technique would have to prepare the bone using a hand-held burr to shave down the surface," said Dr. Rosa, who is one of only a handful of orthopedic surgeons nationwide who have significant experience performing the minimally invasive procedure.

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