Pioneering Hip Joint From B. Braun Medical Set To Increase UK Market Share

Main Category: Bones / Orthopaedics
Also Included In: Medical Devices / Diagnostics
Article Date: 09 Oct 2008 - 1:00 PDT

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A pioneering hip joint targeted at the growing number of younger patients requiring hip replacement surgery is set to take a substantial market share in the UK.

Sheffield based B. Braun Medical's Metha Total Hip Replacement (THR) prosthesis uses ceramic contact surfaces and offers long-term benefits over metal-on-metal re-surfacing procedures, often used in the UK for early hip replacement operations.

B. Braun Medical anticipates that the strong sales of Metha in Europe will be mirrored in the UK as surgeons and patients capitalise on the benefits of the system. The company anticipates a 50 per cent growth in UK sales for 2008.

Key features of the innovative Metha prosthesis include its small size. This enables surgeons to remove a nominal amount of bone and tissue to fit the joint as younger patients generally suffer less widespread bone deterioration. The joint can also be implanted using minimally invasive surgery, resulting in fast post-operative recovery.

Phil Housden, Orthopaedic Consultant at Kent and Canterbury Hospital, said: "With increasingly active lifestyles, there is an equally increasing demand for hip replacements which offer younger patients the minimal amount of surgery, offering a long-term solution and providing the maximum amount of mobility.

"B. Braun Medical's Metha system fulfils this criteria admirably and provides a high degree of adjustment through its modular nature. This basically means that the surgeon can fine-tune the implant to provide the best possible result."

The Metha THR system is set to win over UK surgeons through key benefits such as strong, cement-free insertion, which results in a long-term solution to problems such as degenerative coxarthrosis and femoral head necrosis, often the cause of hip replacements in younger, active patients.

Phil Cleary, Senior Product Manager, Joint Technology, at B. Braun Medical in the UK, said: "European surgeons have embraced the notable benefits that prostheses such as Metha offer compared to metal-on-metal hip surfaces at a much faster rate than the UK market.

"The most important benefits of Metha are the minimally invasive surgery required to fit the implant compared to a relatively large incision for surface replacement prostheses, and the ceramic surfaces, which remove concerns over the possibility of metal ion migration to the blood-stream."

Research from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has shown that metal particles can be released from surface replacement joints as they wear over time and has recommended further research into this deterioration.

Hans Hux, Chief Executive Officer at B. Braun Medical, said: "As patient choice becomes increasingly important in the UK, patients are looking into which solution may be the best for them and they are, in many cases, very well informed.

"The flexible nature of Metha and its capacity to answer concerns over the wear of metal-to-metal implants, combined with a minimal surgical procedure for insertion may, in time, make this a strong UK market leader."

B. Braun Medical