{"id":1222,"date":"2024-06-07T14:57:26","date_gmt":"2024-06-07T05:27:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/mdri-news\/?p=1222"},"modified":"2024-06-07T14:57:26","modified_gmt":"2024-06-07T05:27:26","slug":"next-gen-knee-training-model-heads-for-global-markets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/mdri-news\/2024\/06\/07\/next-gen-knee-training-model-heads-for-global-markets\/","title":{"rendered":"Next-gen knee training model heads for global markets"},"content":{"rendered":"

Successful co-design and testing of new synthetic knee models by Flinders University\u2019s\u00a0Medical Device Research Institute<\/a><\/u>\u00a0is producing vital tools to help surgeons continue to practice and advance knee surgery methods.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Dr Kieran Bennett, from the Medical Device Research Institute at Flinders University, developing the new synthetic knee model.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While\u00a0knee replacement techniques<\/a><\/u>\u00a0are constantly evolving, the opportunity for surgeons to practice new techniques which depend on the availability of cadaveric specimens, which are in limited supply and very costly.<\/p>\n

The new synthetic knee models \u2013 designed and manufactured by\u00a0Adelaide-based company Fusetec<\/a><\/u>\u00a0in an industry partnership with the medical device research team at the Flinders University College of Science and Engineering \u2013 performed well in extensive mechanical testing, overcoming problems with existing models that are usually\u00a0 limited by a lack of biomechanical fidelity.<\/p>\n

The next-gen models are already in use in Australia-Pacific, with pilot programs scheduled for the USA.<\/p>\n

Fusetec chief executive Mr Mark Roe, a collaborator in the latest study published in the\u00a0Journal of<\/i>\u00a0Orthopaedic Research,\u00a0<\/i>says innovations in surgical training models such as this artificial total knee replacement will greatly enhance the ability of higher education and upskilling of medical professionals around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs well as advanced countries, it\u2019s estimated there are more than 143 million additional surgical procedures needed each year in lower- and middle-income countries to save lives and prevent disability,\u201d Mr Roe says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWorldwide, at least 5 billion people do not have access to safe, affordable surgical and anaesthesia care when needed \u2013 partly due to a shortage of more than 1 million specialists in 146 lower- and middle-income countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Professor Mark Taylor.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Professor Mark Taylor, Deputy Director of the Flinders University Medical Device Research Institute (MDRI), says the more advanced synthetic models allow surgeons to quickly gain surgical competence through repeated practice \u2013 without being limited by the availability of \u2018real\u2019 human knee specimens.<\/p>\n

\u201cManufactured knee models may also provide more homogenous examination environments for students, ensuring fair assessments by minimising specimen variability, even further reducing our need for cadaveric specimens,\u201d says Professor Taylor, who adds the study involved input and feedback from surgeons.<\/p>\n

Synthetic knee training models are already in demand, but efforts to accurately reproduce the mechanics of the human knee have proved especially difficult, as passive knee mechanics are governed by a combination of hard and soft tissue interactions, with soft tissue interactions dominated by ligamentous constraints which depend on flexion.<\/p>\n

\"\"Building on computational biomechanics tools originally developed for virtually assessed knee replacements, the MDRI team designed these ligamentous constraints needed for the Fusetec knee model to reproduce cadaveric motion before manufacturing physical models using Fusetec\u2019s Digital Anatomy Printer and testing them using the MDRI\u2019s award-winning Hexapod robot.<\/p>\n

First author Dr Kieran Bennett, a research fellow at Flinders University MDRI, says the collaboration aimed to design, manufacture and experimentally validate a knee surgical training model which \u201creproduces the flexion dependent mechanics of human knees, while maintaining anatomic accuracy\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Tom Carey, Regional Education Lead \u2013 Joint Reconstruction Asia-Pacific at DePuy Synthes, digitising the synthetic knee.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A probabilistic finite element modelling approach was employed to design physical models to exhibit passive cadaveric mechanics. The models were tested across a wide range of flexion angles, with models showing varus-valgus and anterior-posterior mechanics within the 95% confidence interval of cadaveric measurements.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy reproducing the mechanical function of major ligamentous structures of the knee, the models provide both anatomic and biomechanical fidelity, a limitation of previous surgical training models,\u201d says Dr Bennett.<\/p>\n

Future work on synthetic knee models will include developing a broader range of sizes, and with different deformities, to further expand the range of surgical procedures that can be learned and practiced before cadavers are required.<\/p>\n

The research \u2013 \u2018Development and validation of a biomechanically fidelic surgical training knee model\u2019, by Kieran Bennett, Parham Foroutan, Ella Fairweather, Rami Al-Dirini, Sammuel Sobey, Nick Litchfield, Mark Roe, Karen Reynolds, John Costi and Mark Taylor \u2013 has been published in\u00a0Orthopaedic Research<\/i>.\u00a0doi.org\/10.1002\/jor.25873<\/a><\/u><\/p>\n

Acknowledgements:\u00a0<\/b>The work is funded by a Government of Australia Global Innovation Linkages Program Grant (ID: GILIII000120), with in-kind support from DePuy Synthes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Successful co-design and testing of new synthetic knee models by Flinders University\u2019s\u00a0Medical Device Research Institute\u00a0is producing vital tools to help surgeons continue to practice and advance […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":359,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/mdri-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/mdri-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/mdri-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/mdri-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/359"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/mdri-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/mdri-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1222\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/mdri-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/mdri-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/mdri-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}