A surgical app that allows surgeons to create a tailored surgical procedure for each individual patient.
___
Osteoarthritis is a degenerative disease that causes joints to degrade. Cartilage can wear away and bony growths called osteophytes can develop. This degeneration can cause unbearable pain, impede function and can significantly reduce quality of life. Total knee arthroplasty, otherwise known as total knee replacement, is a surgery that involves the removal and replacement of the articulating surfaces of the human knee joint. Current patient satisfaction rates are poor, with 1 in 5 patients reporting being unhappy with the result of their surgery. People's legs and knees aren't all the same, and the traditional surgical philosophy widely adopted by surgeons doesn't take into account this variation in anatomy from person to person.
In-depth research was conducted for this project, including taking part in surgical training, observing surgeries, and collecting data through interviews and tailored design probes. A new surgical process was developed and patented, that takes into account the geometry of the patient’s natural anatomy, the surgeon's surgical boundaries, as well as the mechanical limits of the replacement knee. This was translated into a user-friendly surgical planning app, to help achieve safe and reproducible surgery. The end result is a surgery tailored to both the patient and the surgeon with the aim of improving quality of life and patient satisfaction postoperatively.
Surgical instruments were also developed as part of this project.
The project was a collaboration between DePuy Synthes Joint Reconstruction, a Johnson & Johnson company, and The Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design at the Royal College of Art.
