Conformis, Inc. is a medical technology company that offers joint replacement implants designed and manufactured to fit each patient’s unique anatomy. Conformis is a groundbreaking medical technology that has changed the lives of countless patients and surgeons across the country. On the 14th of December 2017, The Journal of Knee Surgery, a peer-reviewed orthopedic journal, published a study about Conformis knee and joint replacement implants and their benefits. The study investigated the ability of the iTotal CR Knee Replacement System restoring coronal plane mechanical axis alignment in a patient’s leg.
Conformis iTotal Implant is designed to match each patient’s individual joint curves, based on their own unique anatomy. Each Conformis implant is accompanied with a detailed, patient-specific, pre-surgical iView plan for each individual case. Conformis CR Implant and iJig patient-specific cutting guides are designed to achieve neutral mechanical axis alignment.
The study, independently performed by Dr. Gary Levengood at Sports Medicine South in Lawrenceville, Georgia, examined 63 consecutive patients he operated on using the Conformis iTotal CR implant system and Conformis iJig patient-specific instrumentation. Results in each of the cases were verified using computer-assisted surgery (CAS). According to the study results, perfect neutral coronal mechanical alignment of 0° was achieved in 84% of patients, with the remaining 16% of patients within +/-2° of neutral. The patients had an average pre-operative deformity of 5.57° (range 12° valgus to 15°varus), and a post-operative average of 0.18° (range 0-2°) (p<0.0001). Additionally, while 40 of the 63 patients had pre-operative extension deficits (the inability to fully extend the leg), no patients had postoperative extension deficits.
Also according to the study, neutral mechanical limb alignment, or alignment within +/- 3°, has previously been linked to better survivorship in TKA, while poor alignment has been linked to higher rates of implant failure. This study’s findings are consistent with those of a previously published study by Ivie et.al. from the Journal of Arthroplasty in 2014, which concluded that the Conformis iTotal was 1.8 times more likely to achieve a neutral mechanical alignment as compared to standard off-the-shelf knee implants.
*Conformis did not provide any economic support for this study. Dr. Levengood previously has served as an advisor to Conformis.
At Empire Surgical Solutions, we take great pride in being the exclusive distributor of Conformis, as well as other brands in the orthopedic medical equipment space including TriMed fixation systems and NanoHealth USA. Conformis is an innovative, life-changing product that we are very proud to offer patients and surgeons around the United States. We at Empire Surgical Solutions believe that Conformis iTotal CR demonstrates superior clinical outcomes, including better overall functionality and even greater patient satisfaction, compared to the generic, off-the-shelf implants.
More about Conformis, Inc.
Conformis is a medical technology company that uses its proprietary iFit Image-to- Implant technology platform to develop, manufacture, and sell joint replacement implants that are individually sized and shaped, or customized, to fit each patient’s unique anatomy. Conformis offers a broad line of customized knee implants and pre-sterilized, single-use instruments delivered in a single package to the hospital.