Smith+Nephew Introduces First of Its Kind Handheld Digital Tensioning Device for Robotically-Enabled Total Knee Arthroplasty

Smith+Nephew, the global medical technology company, introduced its new CORI Digital Tensioner – a purpose built device that lets surgeons measure the ligament tension in a knee prior to cutting bone. By enabling a surgeon to quantify joint laxity in the native knee and achieve an optimal ligament tensioning force, the CORI Digital Tensioner helps to reduce variability when balancing the knee in surgery. This helps make surgical planning more objective versus other commercially available alternatives.

Personalizing Surgery and Helping Reduce Variability in Robotics-assisted TKA

The CORI Digital Tensioner produces a surgeon-defined, quantifiable force to distract the knee joint, apply consistent tension to the ligaments, and provide objective gap data for procedure planning and execution. A small clinical case series showed the CORI Digital Tensioner reduced variability of tensioning by 64% when compared to a manual technique.

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“I’ve never seen anything like the digital tensioner before,” stated Dr. Steven Haas at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York. “You try to teach how much force to apply, but it varies by surgeon and from one case to another. The CORI Digital Tensioner goes into the knee, you see a force or load being applied, and the gap it created. This technology is something I’ve wanted for the last twenty years.”

Advancing procedural innovation in robotic-assisted surgery, the CORI Digital Tensioner is a differentiated technology that helps solve challenges for surgeons, including:

• The first and only ligament tensioning device in robotic-assisted surgery to assess joint laxity in the native knee before performing bony resection.
• Automatic collection of gap data at a specified force through the full range of movement.
• A true tensioning device using a software interface that allows surgeons to choose their preferred target force value (50±10N, 100±10N, or 150±10N).

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The first commercial surgical procedure using the CORI Digital Tensioner was recently performed by Dr. Bertrand Kaper of Orthopedic Specialists of Scottsdale and HONORHEALTH Medical Group in Arizona.

“The integration of this dedicated soft tissue tensioning device brings a new realm of objective data to the technique of knee replacement,” commented Dr. Kaper. “The surgeon is now able to collect joint laxity data, in a proactive manner, to assist with the visualization, planning and execution of the patient’s surgery in real time. It’s unlike any other tool we’ve historically had available and will be a powerful addition to the robotic-assisted knee replacement technology that the CORI™ platform currently offers.”

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