Digitizing Surgery (LinkedIn article by Peter Verrillo, CEO @ enhatch)
Imagine, as a total joint replacement orthopedic surgeon today, that you are handed a mallet and an osteotome and told that is all you have to implant a state of the art total knee system. It’s hard to conceive of in today’s environment, but this is exactly how the modern era of total condylar knee replacement began in the late 1960’s and early 70’s.
The development of improved implants, instruments, and techniques for total knee arthroplasty (TKA) since then is a well documented one. Several well known surgeons, including Insall, Kelly, Hungerford, Ranawat, et al. made major contributions to improving all aspects of TKA procedures with the goal of more accurate bone cuts, better kinematics, and improved outcomes.
Then, in 1997, Dr. Kenneth Krackow performed the first total knee replacement using a digital navigation system he developed in his lab at the University of Buffalo. As an orthopedic surgeon with an advanced degree in mathematics, he recognized the need for a new system which enabled surgeons to make precise decisions on the alignment and orientation of instruments, the location and depth of bone...
