Single Use Extremities Kit Cuts OR Time 33%: Study
A new, 14-month multi-center study comparing the use of single use extremities instrument kits to standard, traditional implants and instruments, is reporting that physicians may be able to reduce intraoperative time by as much as 33% and realize the attendant, significant savings. The study’s lead investigator was John Levin, DPM, with Orthopedic Center of Palm Beach, Florida. The study looked at first metatarsal phalangeal joint fusion in 71 patients using sterile instrument kits supplied by Flower Orthopedics, a Horsham, Pennsylvania-based foot and ankle surgical implant and instrument company.
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Dr. John Levin |
The specific kit was the Midfoot FlowerCube, a single-use, sterile implant and instrument system. Dr. Levin, and his study colleagues at the other sites, utilized the kits over a 14-month period from February 2017 to April 2018 in both hospital and ambulatory surgical center settings. The results of the study were consistent with outcomes reported in prior literature. At eight weeks post-surgery, 84.51% of study patients experienced union of joints. By 12 weeks after surgery, 98.59% of patients experienced union of the joints. The study concluded that there was a nearly 33% time savings for each case that used the FlowerCube compared to procedures that used traditional implants.
Source: Kimberly DelMonico, Orthopedics This Week [4/26/19]
