Persona Sales & AAOS Notes

Discussion in 'Zimmer' started by Anonymous, Mar 25, 2014 at 9:55 PM.

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  1. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    So I heard from some Zimmer folks at AAOS that Persona was selling well, only constrained by production capacity (a good problem to have), but still a small percentage of total knee sales. Apparently the self aligning tibia component for rotation, along with the precise fitting femur (24 total SKU's in femurs), and the 1 mm poly with the modular trialing system is yielding better results for patients. Good enough but a nightmare for inventory. The Zimmer people defended the 2 mm sizing strategy of Persona due to the results they're seeing. Finally, the Z is moving to kitting one knee femoral unit in with the polys as Arthrex has done on their total knee. A 3 pan case (1 up / 1 down). I hear they have plastic trials now for tibias as well, which were initially metal (a bit lighter than the metal ones, but not as sturdy).

    Now I hear that Smith and Nephew is moving to 1 mm sizing for their poly to compete...

    I still didn't see the new TM Modular asymmetric tibia tray yet. I was told it would feature offset TM pegs (anterior / posterior) on the bottom. I didn't see any revision system components, though one of their developing surgeons said it had been promised in a year.

    Finally, has anyone else noticed how many new knee systems are on the market? It seems the European companies are all getting killed on reimbursement and so are seeking sales in the US. Corin (out of UK, but to be sold in US) has a new knee, Arthrex has a "new" knee (purchased but modified), Amplitude (France) was showing at AAOS, Renovis (Austin TX), Kyocera out of asia (not in US yet), United Technologies (Taiwan, but not in US yet), Medacta (Switzerland but selling in the US already) and others I can't remember. Are all of these companies showing to their customers that traveled to the US to go to AAOS or are they testing the waters to enter our market? About a third of the traffic is international so probably a bit of both.

    Did anyone see the ACL / PCL sparing knee from Biomet called the Vanguard XP? A quick google search will provide the images of the tibia. Rumor had it that Smith and Nephew is about to launch one as well and was going to call it the XR, but now have to rename it (that from a S&N rep working the show). My question is, how easy is this thing to put in without releasing the ACL? Cementing in a tibia with poor visibility was tried back in MIS days, with some variability in results (and revisions for loose tibia components).
     

  2. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Hey, I heard this just recently.....who gives a flying fuck about all of this bullshit???
     
  3. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    apparently not anyone who would care to keep up with what's going on (or coming) in the marketplace around them. btw, cool blackberry.
     
  4. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Anyone know how persona is doing with converting competitive surgeon? I'm considering switching over from Depuy
     
  5. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Kept bumping into Canadians in the booth. Who knew so many attended Academy?
     
  6. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Why manufacture all that inventory to get "closer" to a better fit when Conformis gets an exact fit and perfect rotation for each patient. Just asking.
     
  7. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    why does Conformis offer a video and technique helping trouble shoot when the guides or implants dont fit? Just asking
     
  8. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Science is great, but total knees are as much about feeling soft tissue as about measuring resection levels. Trial and error are important elements intraoperatively during trialing to optimize the feel of the knee through the range of motion. Sort of why obese patients are hard to work on (besides visualization). Their legs weight so much it's difficult to feel the soft tissue subtleties. Feel is something that can't be determined pre-operatively.
     
  9. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Hahahah...

    "Science is great..." Quote of a lifetime. You should put your name on here to take credit for that one.

    I don't work for either of these companies, but I had to comment. Who said there is no room for intraoperative "feel/manipulation/hands on assessment" when using Patient Specific implants/instruments? If these systems are developed correctly, they should allow for the user to do these things.

    You are correct feel cannot be determined pre-operatively; but you can determine size, surgeons have been doing it for 40+ years. The advances in imaging just allow for better resolution. Now sizing can confidently be determined to within 1-2 sizes.
     
  10. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    "I don't work for either of these companies, but I had to comment. Who said there is no room for intraoperative "feel/manipulation/hands on assessment" when using Patient Specific implants/instruments? If these systems are developed correctly, they should allow for the user to do these things."

    You mentioned sizing, I can do that with Medstrat software already, but to the PSI point: "Hands-on" I assume he means making judgments on things like external rotation/slope, things that the program presets and are not amenable to easy change. Other than that I agree, his point makes no sense.

    Honestly I had high hopes for this technology but it only takes one outlier to lose confidence in it and we've all had them (As the biomet rep found out two weeks ago). There is a very damaging article on it recently in JOA/JBJS where PSI had more outliers and didn't really save any time.

    I cannot believe the insurance companies still pay for this.....
     
  11. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Could you site the JOA/JBJS article please?
     
  12. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Probably talking about the JBJS article on Depuy Trumatch
     
  13. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Tru Match and Conformis are not the same. Do your homework...
     
  14. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Seems like Zimmer has focused more on fit than kinematics with Persona. L/R tibias and many femoral options, plus 1mm poly, but same Sagittal femoral design, or was that changed as well?
     
  15. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    They wanted to differentiate themselves from Stryker so they made a square instead of a round knee. AP dimension on the square changes 2mm every size with standard and narrow ML options for each size square.
     
  16. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    A square knee? Do you mean a knee with a J-curve?
     
  17. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    A square knee is what stryker tells all their reps that all the other companies have.
     
  18. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    It's hip to be square.
    -Huey Lewis
     
  19. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Regarding Trumatch and JBJS- one of the surgeons / authors mentioned he cuts the tibia with an extramedullary system often as it seldom correct. Never saw it in the study = one lie all lies or DePuy shifting the facts again like they attempted with the ASR.