Beijing, China – From November 17 to November 20, Shanghai MicroPort Orthopedics Co., Ltd. ("MicroPort® Orthopedics") attended the 18th Chinese Orthopaedic Association ("COA") Annual Meeting and the 11th International Congress of COA in Beijing to display its innovative products and host a symposium. Hosted by Chinese Medical Association and COA, the congress embodied the latest research results and showed the latest technology and clinical progression in orthopedic clinical, nursing and rehabilitation.
On November 18, MicroPort® Orthopedics hosted a symposium themed "Fast Recovery and Patient Satisfaction," in which domestic and international orthopedic experts were invited to exchange ideas about the operative experience of SuperPath™ Micro-posterior Total Hip Arthroplasty ("SuperPath™") and the design concept of Medial Pivot Knee.
In the Hip session, Professor Chuan He of Ruijin Hospital of Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine delivered a speech of "SuperPath™ Surgical Technique and My Experience" to share his story about learning SuperPath™ technique from a Chinese surgeon's point of view. With little incision, SuperPath™ offers patients a more rapid return to function, less pain and less blood loss, which leads to a more comfortable surgical experience and improved patient satisfaction. As an innovative surgical technique of hip replacement, SuperPath™ has learning curve. Professor He then shared his understanding of the SuperPath™ procedure during different phases of the learning curve, and summarized the surgical skills that suits Chinese patients. Afterwards, Professor Jimmy Chow, one of the creators of SuperPath™ technique and the Director of Orthopaedics Hip & Joint Surgery for Phoenix St. Luke's Medical Center, lectured on "the Results of 1,000 SuperPath™ Procedures," with the emphasis on some traps beginners should pay attention to avoid when learning the surgical technique, which was well received by the attendees.
In the Knee session, Dr. Mario Lamontagne from University of Ottawa reported on "the Comparison of Knee Muscle Activity between Medial Pivot Knee and Posterior Stabilized ("PS") Implant during Stairs Ascent Task," with the focus of knee biomechanics. Orthopedic scholars have always been divided on knee biomechanics. The idea about how the knee moves, especially that before and after TKA procedure, will greatly impact the post-operative experience of the patient, and largely determines the outcome of a TKA procedure. Dr. Mario Lamontagne analyzed in detail the muscle activity of patients' daily life such as walking up and down stairs after their TKA procedures respectively with Medial Pivot Knee and PS implant. He pointed out, according to research findings, when doing the same movement of stairs ascent, patients with Medial Pivot Knees consumes only a bit more muscle strength than people with a healthy knee, but much less than patients with traditional PS implants. It means that the efficiency of quadriceps femoris muscle of patients with Medial Pivot Knees is significantly improved compared to that of patients with traditional PS implants, which would largely result in patient satisfaction.
Based on Dr. Mario Lamontagne's research report, Professor Zhihong Liu of Ruijin Hospital of Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine explained the design concept of Medial Pivot Knee in terms of knee biomechanics researches and his clinical experience. In a normal knee, the medial compartment moves less than the lateral compartment in knee flexion and the mobility of the lateral compartment makes the femoral rotation in knee flexion. In this sense, biomechanics of knee flexion has two features – rollback and medial pivot. The Medial Pivot Knee is designed just based on such theories. According to his operative experience from performing over 100 Medial Pivot Knee procedures in the past year, Professor Zhihong Liu pointed out that Medial Pivot Knee will exert an important influence on the orthopedic field with its advantages in bone preservation and patient satisfaction. Attendees also actively engaged in discussions and experience exchange to help each other improve the theory and surgical skills.
During the COA congress, MicroPort® Orthopedics displayed its innovative products such as SuperPath™, Evolution™ Medial-Pivot Knee System, and spine & trauma devices in its booth, which attracted wide attention from the attendees. In the future, MicroPort® Orthopedics will continue to innovate and develop more orthopedic solutions for Asian and global patients, in accordance with our branding ideology "The Patient Always Comes First."