Alliance to Advance Hip Replacement Care

A partnership to advance and improve the care and treatment of patients with hip and knee prostheses has been announced by VirtualScopics, LLC (Pittsford, NY, USA) and Anderson Orthopaedic Research Institute (AORI, Alexandria, VA, USA). The two companies will combine the experience of AORI scientists with the medical image analysis technology of VirtualScopics to build a system for the noninvasive detection and measurement of physiologic changes related to joint replacement procedures.

Medical imaging, such as computed tomography (CT), is used to acquire volumetric data of the area surrounding a patient's prosthesis. VirtualScopics' image-processing techniques are designed to remove image artifacts created by the metal prosthesis; segment the image data into constituent structures such as metal, bone, and tissue; and then precisely measure structural attributes such as abnormal bone erosion or prosthesis wear and display them in a 3-D view. This helps doctors to determine how well the prosthesis is joining to the body, how well the artificial joint is functioning, and how to provide the best treatment for their patients.

Under the terms of the agreement, VirtualSclopics will tailor its software to meet the needs of orthopedic surgeons based on collaborative research with AORI. AORI has a computerized database of more than 7,000 prosthetic implant patients that will be a valuable resource in developing the software.

"We have two goals,” said Dr. Charles A. Engh, medical director of AORI. "The first is to give patients who need joint replacements the very best care. The second is to improve the quality of orthopedics. Working with VirtualScopic enables us to address both goals, using their 3-D imaging technology.”




Related Links:
VirtualScopics
Orthopaedic Research Institute