Navy Seal Receives A Conformis Custom Knee Replacement & an Off The Shelf Knee Replacement

Read the inspiring story of how American hero, David LeBlanc, is now back in action thanks to Dr. Michael Hooker, Mr. LeBlanc’s self-determination, and the ConforMIS Custom Knee Replacement. 

Mr. LeBlanc received an off the shelf knee replacement on the left knee and a Conformis Knee Replacement on the right knee. While he considers both surgeries a success, he makes a point to note that the right knee, which received the Conformis custom implant, feels as though there was almost never anything wrong at all. He further goes on to say that his Conformis surgery was the most successful surgery he has ever had.

For his left knee, which had an off the shelf knee replacement, Mr. LeBlanc had to make post-operative adjustments, and unfortunately, that left knee does not bend as much as he would like.

Hope I get the honor of meeting Mr. LeBlanc in the near future. His story is inspiring and reinforces my belief that the ConforMIS iTotal Custom Knee Replacement is hands down the greatest advancement in Total Knee Reconstruction in decades.

If you are in need of a knee replacement or other orthopedic medical equipment in New York, then contact Empire Surgical Solutions today to learn more or to schedule a consultation with an orthopedic surgeon.

Why the Conformis iTotal is the best option for allowing patients the best chance for a normal feeling knee

One picture can sum up why the Conformis iTotal is the best option for allowing patients the best chance for a normal feeling knee. 

Notice the superior femoral rollback the Conformis Custom Knee Replacement provides to patients on the left image. Take note of how the off the shelf knee replacement causes a paradoxical anterior medial slide to achieve minimal rollback. Patients feel this instability, but it does not have to be this way. 

Patients are twice as likely to be dissatisfied as a result of compromised function over anything else. Why not give them a total knee replacement that best minimizes this compromised function by respecting the shape of their original knee?

Explore Conformis and other orthopedic supplies in New York at Empire Surgical Solutions or find a knee replacement surgeon in New York online today!

How A Knee Should Move

Back in 2003 Dr. Douglas Dennis and Dr. Richard Komistek received The Coventry Award for their paper that studied in vivo kinematics after total knee arthroplasty. I. This study they found that off the shelf total knee replacements do not replicate normal kinematics. 

Up until now, no knee replacement implant has been able to come close to replicating the natural kinematics of a knee. In 2015 Dr. Richard Komistek and Dr. Harold Cates presented a paper at the International Congress for Joint Reconstruction that put the custom Conformis iTotal Knee Replacement in a head to head comparison with two different off the shelf knee replacement designs. The full paper is attached to this post. 

Patients were asked to perform a maximum knee bend and to rise from a chair while inside a state of the art mobile fluoroscopy unit that was taking video as the patients went through their movements. These videos were then converted to a three-dimensional view and were analyzed by the researchers. 

100% of the patients who had received the Conformis knee achieved weight bearing range of motion greater than 90 degrees. The patients who had received the off the shelf knee were able to achieve weight bearing range of motion greater than 90 degrees only 76% of the time. 

93% of patient’s who received the Conformis knee achieved a normal rollback and the off the shelf knees achieved normal rollback only 52% of the time for one off the shelf knee and 76% for another brand of off the shelf knee replacement. 

Lastly, the patients who received the customized Conformis Knee Replacement had the lowest incidence of the anterior slide while the patients performed a deep knee bend. 

All of this shows just how much ConforMIS can give a person a knee that more closely performs as their knee did before surgery. ConforMIS respects each person's shape and size, and this has proven to be beneficial to the people who are in need of total knee arthroplasty. 

Contact Empire Surgical Solutions today for orthopedic supplies in New York, New Jersey & the Tri-state area, and to learn more about how ConforMIS can help you achieve a greater outcome with your total knee replacement. 

Vivo Kinematics

The Conformis knee is Outperforming off the Shelf

The attached multicenter, prospective study on two-year outcomes in patients receiving a custom made ConforMIS knee replacement was presented at the International Congress for Joint Reconstruction that was held in 2016. 

Orthopedic surgeons from nine different institutions around the country gave 360 patients the custom-made Conformis iTotal CR Knee Replacement and analyzed their postoperative outcomes at 6-weeks, 6-months, 1-year, and 2-years. 

The results obtained from this study showed the excellent post-op range of motion, as well as significant improvements in Knee Society Scores (KSS) and Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Scores (KOOS). 

The ConforMIS knee is outperforming off the shelf in many ways but none more important than in patient satisfaction. More than 90% of the patients in this study were satisfied with their outcomes. Previous studies on patient satisfaction show that with an off the shelf knee replacement the patient satisfaction rate is about 80%. 

Happier patients, significant bone preservation, more natural feeling knee, lower blood transfusion rates, a perfect fit, no compromises, far fewer soft tissue releases, only one small surgical tray, faster recovery, perfect alignment, superior range of motion, and overall more reproducible outcomes. All the above advantages are more frequently obtained with the ConforMIS Custom Knee Replacement. If it is not ConforMIS, then it is not custom. 

If you live in the New York City & Westchester area and have been told you need knee replacement surgery, contact Empire Surgical Solutions to find an orthopedic surgeon or learn more about our other orthopedic devices and equipment.

Do not settle for outdated technology with adequate, or worse, results. 

The First Study Comparing A Custom Made Posterior Stabilized Knee Replacememt vs An Off The Shelf Posterior Stabilized Knee Replacement

The studies I have been talking about over the past months were all performed with the Conformis iTotal custom knee replacement. While the Conformis iTotal CR has been around for approximately seven years, we have also had our iTotal PS available for around three years with the same phenomenal patient outcomes. Attached are the results of the first Conformis iTotal PS study that was first presented in 2017 at the British Association for Surgery of the Knee meeting. 

Similar to our iTotal CR studies, the Conformis iTotal PS Custom Knee Replacement showed a significantly higher weight bearing range of motion as well as a significantly higher rollback of the lateral femoral condyle. The patients implanted with the Conformis iTotal PS also experienced a 2.8mm rollback of the medial femoral condyle while the patient’s who had received the off the shelf knee replacement experienced an anterior slide of their medial condyle. 

The average postoperative weight bearing range of motion for the patients who received the Conformis S iTotal PS was 112 degrees compared to 94 degrees for the off the shelf knee replacement. 

Another important finding of this study was the contact point of the cam-post mechanism. The patients with the iTotal PS had a cam-post engagement that was centrally located in the post whereas the off the shelf patients had a cam-post engagement that was located on the medial aspect of the post. 

All this translates into the fact that the custom-made ConforMis iTotal more closely approximates the natural motion of the knee. The ConforMis custom Knee replacement technology is the first big advancement in Knee Arthroplasty in 20 years. Patients want more from their knee replacement surgery and now that can be given to them. 

If you are a patient in need of a knee replacement then do not settle for an off the shelf knee when you can have one that is custom made for you. If you are looking for a surgeon in the New York City and Westchester, New York metro area who offers their patients the only custom knee in the world then click this link: https://www.conformis.com/find-a-doctor/?zip=Mt%20kisco

If you want to find a knee replacement doctor or explore other orthopedic equipment, contact Empire Surgical Solutions in New York today!