CMH Surgeon among first to do patient-customized knee replacement surgery

WILMINGTON - While choosing a high performance knee replacement is central to regaining your active life, there is a new, technologically advanced surgical procedure available at Clinton Memorial Hospital that may extend the life of knee implants.

Dr. Rick Compton, an orthopedic surgeon on the CMH medical staff since 1994, performs the surgery in the CMH Surgery Center. VISIONAIRE Patient Match technology is a remarkable system that uses a patient’s MRI and x-ray images to design and build surgical instruments customized for his or her unique knee anatomy, according to Dr. Compton. VISIONAIRE is a trademark of Smith & Nephew, Inc.

“While every person’s knee joint has subtle differences in shape and contour, traditional surgical instruments used to place knee implants are one-size- fits-all,” Dr. Compton says. “In the past, an orthopedic surgeon would spend time during the procedure adapting to a knee’s terrain in order to achieve the proper placement of the implant.”

Using VISIONAIRE technology, Dr. Compton goes to the operating room equipped with single-use instruments, engineered exclusively for that patient’s knee by a leading innovator in orthopedic medicine—Smith & Nephew Orthopaedics.

Dr. Compton says the VISIONAIRE system eliminates multiple steps from the surgery, thus reducing time under anesthesia. An implant placed with this computer-guided precision has a reduced risk of the kind of misalignment that can cause it to wear out before its time, he says.

“This technology is truly groundbreaking,” says Dr. Compton. “I have more confidence in the accurate placement of the implant while my patients benefit from a simplified procedure. Because the technology delivers pre-sized and pre- aligned instruments, my time in the OR has decreased. For patients, that means a potentially reduced risk of complications like infection.” 

In addition to enhancing the procedure, patients also get to take home the unique plastic instruments their doctor used to perform the case.

For more information about VISIONAIRE Patient Match technology, contact Dr. Compton at 382-7374 or the CMH Surgery Center at 382-9230.

Watch your local newspapers and mailboxes for news about a special program to be presented by Dr. Compton and Smith & Nephew early in 2011.