Throughout our development process, we’ve made it a priority to incorporate feedback from high-volume opinion leaders throughout Australasia and beyond.
This case study, carried out pre-COVID-19, charts a successful hip reconstruction performed by Dr. David Liu, a Consultant Orthopedic Surgeon at the Gold Coast Centre for Bone and Joint Surgery. Specializing in hip and knee replacement and reconstruction, Dr. Liu is also an Honorary Adjunct Professor at Bond University and a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.
The patient, a woman in her late-60’s, had been experiencing increasing hip pain for years, culminating in a marked acute increase in pain and stiffness following a recent overseas trip that left her unable to comfortably travel or walk for exercise. She was diagnosed with end-stage primary osteoarthritis. She had no history of inflammatory disease or trauma, although radiographs showed concentric narrowing. The particulars of her case presented two noteworthy difficulties; a conspicuously tight canal distally limited stem size, meaning hip balance and offset would need to be restored without lengthening the leg significantly.
“In cases where stem size and position are limited, an alternative approach must be taken. Depending on stem fit, I can adjust cup position and version to accommodate these limits, trying to restore hip centre, offset and balance as best as possible, along with combined version. The software allowed me to base my hip reconstruction on stem position, planning everything virtually and in 3D prior to surgery, anticipate any difficulties or dilemmas in advance. In many cases we are unable to get the perfect combination for all indices, making a compromise necessary. The Formus Platform helps showcase all available options, assisting with decision-making on the best possible reconstruction for the patient”, stated Dr. Liu.
The patient is now recovering, with the Formus Platform playing a key role in highlighting stem size as the biggest factor in driving a successful hip replacement under these conditions.
Having himself been working on using computational modelling and machine learning to improve patient outcomes in knee replacements and robotic hip surgeries, Dr. Liu’s expert feedback has been invaluable in continuing to refine the platform to best meet the needs of surgeons.
While we await further developments around hospital access restrictions in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, we look forward to continuing to share results from other recently completed case studies. Continued product development will be our core focus across this coming quarter, with these case studies playing a crucial role in building the best possible platform, backed by real-world data and results.
