Smith & Nephew launches JOURNEY™ II Cruciate Retaining natural-motion knee replacement at AAOS annual meeting

LONDON, March 12, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Smith & Nephew (LSE:SNNYSE:SNN), the global medical technology business, announces the launch of the JOURNEY™ II Cruciate Retaining (CR) knee replacement at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) meeting in New Orleans today. The new implant extends the JOURNEY II Total Knee System to procedures that preserve the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL), which accounts for approximately half of all knee replacement procedures.

The JOURNEY II CR knee, like the JOURNEY II Bi-cruciate Stabilized (BCS) knee that was launched at last year's AAOS meeting, sets a new standard in knee implant performance by restoring more normal motion for patients. This is achieved through the reproduction of both the shapes of the joint's hard surfaces and the normal force behavior of the soft tissues, such as ligament and muscle firing patterns. As a result, the soft tissue's readjustment to new shapes and forces after surgery is minimized, helping to return the patient's stride to its natural motion.¹

"Access to this next-generation technology has been remarkable for my practice," said Jeff Geller, MD, of Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York. "I choose a cruciate retaining knee replacement whenever possible for my patients, and this is the first time I've been confident they're receiving a device that's kinematically correct. Most importantly, my patients confirm this in our follow-up discussions."

The JOURNEY II CR knee is the first PCL-sparing total knee replacement designed to provide normal kinematics and increased patient satisfaction through PHYSIOLOGICAL MATCHING™ Technology. This innovative approach to implant development uses the company's LIFEMOD™ human simulation software to analyze the bone, ligament and muscle forces that impact the knee, and then account for those forces within the design of an implant intended to help restore anatomic shapes and normal motion.

"The JOURNEY II CR knee will be a key component of our total knee replacement portfolio," said Gaurav Agarwal, President, Orthopaedic Reconstruction, Smith & Nephew. "The unique patient benefits of the JOURNEY II BCS knee have made it among the most popular implants we've ever introduced, and since our customers choose a PCL-sparing device in approximately one-half of knee replacement cases, we expect the new JOURNEY II CR to further drive adoption of the JOURNEY II system."

The JOURNEY II CR knee is made from Smith & Nephew's VERILAST™ Technology.  The combination of two wear reducing materials, proprietary OXINIUM™ alloy and a highly cross-linked plastic liner, VERILAST Technology significantly reduces implant wear compared to traditional bearing couples on the market.  On traditional plastic liners, laboratory testing has demonstrated that OXINIUM material is 4,900 times more abrasion resistant than cobalt chrome² and reduces knee replacement wear on traditional liners by up to 85-percent compared to cobalt chrome components.³

Editor's note

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 700,000 total knee replacements are performed in the US every year.

About Smith & Nephew

Smith & Nephew is a global medical technology business dedicated to helping healthcare professionals improve people's lives. With leadership positions in Orthopaedic Reconstruction, Advanced Wound Management, Sports Medicine and Trauma & Extremities, Smith & Nephew has around 11,000 employees and a presence in more than 90 countries. Annual sales in 2013 were more than $4.3 billion. Smith & Nephew is a member of the FTSE100 (LSE: SN, NYSE: SNN).

For more information about Smith & Nephew, please visit our corporate website www.smith-nephew.com, follow @SmithNephewplc on Twitter or visit SmithNephewplc on Facebook.com

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¹Catani F, Ensini A, Belvedere C, Feliciangeli A, Benedetti MG, Leardini A, Giannini S. In vivo kinematics and kinetics of a bi-cruciate substituting total knee arthroplasty: a combined fluoroscopic and gait analysis study. J Orthop Res. 2009 Dec;27(12):1569-75.

²G. Hunter and M. Long, "Abrasive wear of oxidized Zr-2.5Nb, CoCrMo, and Ti-6Al-4V against bone cement", 6th World Biomaterials Cong. Trans., Society For Biomaterials, Minneapolis, MN, 2000, p. 835.

³M. Spector, M.D. Ries, R.B. Bourne, W.S. Sauer, M. Long, and G. Hunter, Wear performance of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene on oxidized zirconium total knee femoral components, J. Bone Joint Surg., 83-A (S2), 2001, pp. 80-86.

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