Steadman Hawkins Clinic of the Carolinas (SHCC) is using Visionaire Patient Matched instrumentation from Smith & Nephew Inc. for some total knee replacement procedures. The Visionaire system takes a patient’s MRI and X-rays to create custom surgical instrumentation for use with Smith & Nephew knee implants.
Steadman Hawkins physicians using Visionaire for knee replacement
Brian G. Burnikel, MD
Stephen P. Geary, MD
Paul C. Siffri, MD
Benefits of Using the Visionaire patient-matched technology
- Acurate Alignment
- Faster Recovery
- Less Pain
- Implant longevity
By using instruments designed from each patient’s anatomical data, surgeons can accommodate the unique shapes and angles of the joint while precisely aligning the implant, Smith & Nephew said. The disposable instruments help surgeons eliminate multiple steps during knee replacement, decreasing surgical risks and the amount of time a patient is under anesthesia, the company noted.
VISIONAIRE Patient Match technology is a remarkable system that uses a patient’s MRI and x-ray images to design and build surgical instruments customized for his or her unique knee anatomy.
While every person’s knee joint has subtle differences in shape and contour, traditional surgical instruments used to place knee implants are one-size-fits-all. In the past, an orthopedic surgeon would spend time during the procedure adapting to a knee’s “terrain” in order to achieve the proper placement of the implant.
Not only does the VISIONAIRE system eliminate multiple steps from the surgery, thus reducing time under anesthesia, but an implant placed with this computer-guided precision has a reduced risk of the kind of misalignment that can cause it to wear out before its time.