Biomet Spine has announced the completion of the first surgery utilising the single-use MaxAn One anterior cervical system, an anterior cervical plating system designed to minimise the chance of infection and reduce hospital and ambulatory surgery centre costs. The surgery was conducted at Crittenton Hospital Medical Center in Michigan, USA.
The MaxAn One is a system of sterile-packed implants and disposable instrument kits. This sterile-packed system provides the potential for reduced product contamination and lowered risk of infection, while eliminating the need for labour-intensive hospital staff activities such as preoperative sterilisation, postoperative cleaning, decontamination, product handling, replenishment, and the return and/or replacement of standard, reusable instruments. The cost of the system is expected to be comparable to other anterior cervical plate systems, and the single-use aspect has the potential to have a positive, direct impact on a facility’s overall profitability. The MaxAn One delivers the same clinical results as the widely-used MaxAn Green cervical plate, which is designed to help reduce the incidence of adjacent level ossification.
John LaMacchia, the first physician to conduct surgery utilising the MaxAn One says: “The MaxAn One anterior cervical system is truly unique in that it provides a sterile, disposable instrument set that is brand new, lightweight, compact, and user-friendly for every surgery. This will be especially beneficial when I have multiple anterior cervical fusions on the same day because we will be able to avoid delays due to processing and re-sterilisation. The system will also benefit hospitals and ambulatory surgery centres by providing much improved traceability of implants and instruments, reducing the storage space required, and dramatically reducing the logistical steps required with traditional, reusable implant and instrument sets.”
LaMacchia is secretary in the Department of Surgery at Crittenton Hospital Medical Center, co-founder and vice president of DeClaire LaMacchia Orthopaedic Institute and an assistant professor at Wayne State University School of Medicine.
Jim Cloar, general manager of Global Spine at Biomet, comments: “The MaxAn One anterior cervical system has the potential to dramatically enhance efficiencies throughout the treatment paradigm. Because it is single use, the MaxAn One has the potential to improve staff productivity and to reduce overall processing costs – closely monitored metrics at many hospitals and ambulatory surgery centres that directly impacts a centre’s overall profitability. The surgeon is guaranteed a new set for each surgery. Equally important are the possible savings due to potentially reducing post-op infections, which can result in costly re-operations that may not be reimbursed by insurers. MaxAn One is designed to avoid these costly procedures.”
The MaxAn One features the MaxAn Green anterior cervical plate, which was designed by surgeons Alan S Hilibrand, Daniel Riew and Jeffrey C Wang. The MaxAn One’s unique plate design allows for wide screw angulation, permitting the use of a shorter plate and thus may help prevent impingement and reduce the risk of ossification of the adjacent level. The new disposable system will be highlighted at the 2014 North American Spine Society (NASS) meeting being held from November 12-15, 2014 in San Francisco, USA, at the Biomet booth #1429.
