Disposable Instruments Feasibility Study
A forward–thinking orthopaedic implant and instrument manufacturer identified the clinical and commercial potential of low–cost disposable surgical tools. With specialist scientific and networking support from the Integrated Products Manufacturing KTN, the company has been able to take its revolutionary concept from a feasibility study through to the successful application for European Union Framework Six R&D funding.
Traditionally the company has supplied surgeons, free of charge, with a set of expensive metal tooling for use with their joint replacement products. In recent years, concerns about their high cost and the fact that they are reused until they become unfit for purpose have been joined by worries about the spread of Creutzfeldt–Jakob Disease (CJD). The proteins produced by CJD adhere to metal surfaces and are not removed through sterilisation. The firm became convinced that one–use, advanced–material tools could resolve these issues. It also saw that there was an opportunity to completely re–think the tools themselves to improve their performance.
Collaborative development with leading orthopaedic surgeons has tended to be the company's primary route to innovation. This time though, with external expertise sought to brainstorm ideas, assess the market and review the metallurgical options, the company approached the Integrated Products Manufacturing KTN. "We were able to provide the methods and skills the company was seeking," explains Nigel Lambert who undertook the work on behalf of the KTN. The feasibility study gave the company the knowledge and confidence it needed to take the project forward. The KTN's extensive network was called upon to establish a European consortium, who went on to successfully acquire €1.4 million of EU Framework Six funding for its project RASPED. The reverberating abrasive single use piezoelectric driven cutting device, developed by the 10–partner project, prepares bones for hip prosthesis implantation in an entirely new way. Not only does it negate the need for impact–based methods to open the canal in the top of the femur, dramatically cutting post–operative complication rates, it also has the added benefit of reducing contamination risks.
For the orthopaedics company, the benefits of its ambitious innovation project are becoming very clear. The first of the innovative tools developed could reduce the femoral fracture rate by 60% and save the European healthcare system over €100 million a year. The tool's low cost, simplicity and effectiveness have convinced experts that it will be used in at least 10% of all European hip implementations by 2012.