Medacta receives FDA approval for augmented reality platform for knee replacement

TKA stands for Total Knee Artroplasty and is a surgical procedure designed to secure or restore knee joint function. The operation is now to be possible with augmented reality. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is now allowing the so-called NextAR augmented reality-based surgical platform from the Ticino-based company Medacta for TKA procedures.
This is the first application of a new platform technology that will be extended to hip, shoulder and spine procedures. It has been developed and designed with artificial intelligence and machine learning, which enables efficient and precise pre-operative planning and analysis.

More focus on the patient through AR

With the augmented reality glasses supplied with the NextARTM platform, the surgeon can visualise surgical actions and information in real time directly on the surgical field. This improves the user experience and helps the surgeon to focus on the patient at all times.

An exciting advancement for surgery

"With enhanced visualisation via augmented reality, the NextARTM platform is an innovative and efficient tool for ultra-precise, patient-specific treatment, " said Dr Michael McAuliffe (MBBS FRACS), orthopaedic surgeon at St Andrew's Ipswich Hospital in Queensland, Australia and a member of the expert panel of surgeons Medacta worked with to develop the application. "The NextARTM TKA application allows us to track the behaviour of 3D soft tissue in real time during surgery. This functionality is an exciting advancement from traditional computerised or robotic surgical systems that only track the relative movement of the knee bones, not the actual soft tissue."

More efficiency and precision

The aim of the procedure is to improve the efficiency and precision of total knee replacement and to enable personalised planning. Clinics and hospitals would only have to make a small upfront investment, which would bring economic benefits to the healthcare system through efficiency and low costs per procedure. It is especially an optimal solution for outpatient surgery centres in the US that offer same-day surgical care.

Source: finanzen / Medacta