First fully customised 3D knee prosthesis successfully implanted in Spain
Dr. Ignatios Chatziandreou carries out in Hospital Ochoa the first intervention in Spain of 3D knee implant made to measure. The specialist in Traumatology of Hospital Ochoa, Dr. Ignatios Chatziandreou, takes the lead in the field of knee prostheses in 3d made to measure. For the first time in Spain, he will be performing this type of intervention on a patient next September 10.
The procedure consists of implanting a prosthetic knee joint, reproduced with a 3D printer strictly identical to the patient’s knee. The individualized and designed nature of the replacement knee allows it to fit precisely to the exact anatomy of the patient and avoids many problems such as discomfort, pain or unnatural movements. In fact, these personalized prostheses have the advantage, with respect to those commonly used, that they adapt better to the structure of the patient’s knee.
They are especially recommended for patients with severe osteoarthritis and there are two types: lateral or total. The average age of patients who need a knee prosthesis is around 60 years, although in some cases it drops to 40.
Only patients with any allergy to steel, chromium or cobalt, present in the development of the implant, would be excluded from this kind of intervention. Also, those with affected collateral ligaments.
The technique: It was carried out for the first time 12 years ago in the United States and has been applied for 6 years in Europe with implants made by the multinational firm ConforMIS, a company specialized in medical technology and with whom Dr. Ignatios Chatziandreou collaborated.
The specialist: Dr. Chatziandreou joined the medical team of Hospital Ochoa last year and is in charge of the surgical intervention to insert these implants. His has a proven track record of intervening in more than a thousand operations of this type between the years 2002 to 2015, during his work in Dormund (Germany).
The operation: The surgical intervention is performed with general or epidural anaesthesia, depending on the case and lasts approximately one hour. The recovery takes about four weeks and requires only a few days of hospital stay. Many patients start walking from the first day.
ConforMIS: ConforMIS is a firm offering a precision design of the prosthetic replacement by means of tomographies of the patient to create a joint made specifically to measure whose shape will adapt to the leg as a whole. An automated design process that perfectly matches the size and shape of the knee joint in 3D. Once the model has been created, a wax-up will be printed in 3D that will be used to mold the femoral and tibial components of each implant. ConforMIS also prints all disposable instruments, specific to each patient.
