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The key to successful surgery is exposure.
Without excellent surgical exposure, surgeons may be forced to compromise their surgical technique, working area and time. During hip replacement surgery, surgeons depend upon a selection of specialized retractors to navigate down to the hip joint and hold back soft tissue and muscle during the procedure. These retractors have been optimized over the years for each surgical approach to the hip and differing patient anatomy. Each surgeon has their ideal retractor set, but how these retractors are positioned, remain in place and are held can be inconsistent from patient to patient, compromising exposure.
Orthopedic product development teams are focused on new implant and instrument introductions, as well as surgical technique. While retractors are not always part of an orthopedic device company’s product portfolio, they do play an important role in the ultimate placement of an implant.
Like any orthopedic device company, Thompson Surgical Instruments believes in listening to surgeons’ feedback and developing solutions to improve their experience. In working with several orthopedic surgeons, such as Mark J. Powers, M.D., FACS, FAAOS and Lee Eric Rubin M.D., FAAOS, FAOA, Thompson identified a need for dependable, table-mounted retractors for hip surgery. Without a table-mounted retractor, surgeons must rely on the operating room team to hold retractors, and for many, the team can vary from case to case.
The surgeon does not often hold handheld retractors, nor do they have direct control over the retraction pressure, stability and direction of retraction. The clinical personnel holding the retractor, their skill range and endurance may not always be consistent. Requiring multiple personnel to hold retractors takes up space around the operative area. Additionally, surgeons must ensure that their procedures are staffed with enough personnel to hold the retractors, which may add to the expense of surgery.
Thompson, continuing to work closely with orthopedic surgeon leaders, has developed a hip retractor frame that easily and securely mounts to standard OR tables and specialized hip surgery tables. This frame provides a foundation for which the surgeon’s preferred retractors can be attached once they are positioned in the patient. The frame is low profile and out of the way so it won’t impede the surgeon’s workflow, other table attachments or imaging. Thompson also provides its own line of specialized hip retractors and accessories should they be needed for use with the frame. The result is a consistent, stable and replicable exposure from patient to patient. The surgeon has direct control over the exact retraction pressure and placement so that once each retractor is set, uncompromised exposure can be achieved, and the surgeon can focus on the hip replacement. These benefits extend to the patient as well as hospitals and surgery centers.
Thompson has developed a hip retractor frame that easily and securely mounts to standard OR tables and specialized hip surgery tables. Photo courtesy of Thompson Surgical Instruments
“The success of outpatient total hip arthroplasty will depend upon orthopedic autonomy in the ASC. The Thompson Hip System is a simple solution that provides consistent and reproducible exposure. It is cost-effective and creates more OR space by minimizing personnel. It is ‘a must have’ for outpatient THA,” Dr. Powers, reported to our team.
Hip replacement surgery has been evolving since its origins in the late 1990s. Improvements in implant materials and methods, surgical approaches, imaging and navigation have benefited patients and surgeons tremendously. Dr. Powers added, “The Thompson Hip System has an elegant design that optimizes the synergy between instrumentation and surgical technique allowing unimpeded visualization while performing muscle sparing (or minimally invasive) total hip arthroplasty.” It is time to upgrade exposure and evolve to a table-mounted retractor.
Thompson also provides table-mounted retractors to industry partners that specialize in orthopedic implants. Thompson’s focus, for over fifty years, is on retraction. All research, innovation, quality and experience is concentrated on surgical retraction. This makes Thompson an ideal partner for a company focused on implants. When surgeons do not already own a Thompson Retractor, providing it with an implant adds value to the implant and ensures that surgical access is never impeded, allowing the implant, and success of the surgery, to shine.
