Most New Devices Not Better After All? (Orthopedics This Week)
In reviewing 118 studies and 15,384 implants, researchers from the Netherlands found that none of five new devices reviewed improved functional or patient reported outcomes and that existing devices may be safer to use.
What are we doing wrong as a field? Marc Nieuwenhuijse, M.D., an orthopedic resident at the Leiden University Medical Center and ICOR research fellow, tells OTW, “Changes in the way of introduction of new orthopedic implants into the commercial market are necessary. The introduction of new orthopedic implants and related technologies has been the focus of major scientific and policy discussions since the failures of articular surface replacement and large head size metal-on-metal articulations in total hip replacement were brought to light. However, scientists and policy makers seem to ‘run out of steam,’ and the momentum for change generated by these recent high profile failures is waning.”
“The consequences of uncontrolled device introduction worldwide may not be fully recognized by the scientific community and there is a high likelihood that current practice regarding device innovations will not chang...
