Orthopaedic Specialty Clinic of Spokane, PLLC

By Carla K. Johnson

PAINFUL KNEE JOINTS can sideline active people. A new knee implant, developed by an engineer who injured his knee in a hockey game, may ease the pain and delay the need for a total knee replacement.

"It's a simple idea with complex geometry behind it," said Dr. David Scott, a Spokane orthopedic surgeon who was the first in the region to use the UniSpacer implant

The implant is about the size of a 50-cent piece and made of cobalt chrome. Curved on top and almost flat on the bottom, it is shaped to fit between the femur and the tibia. It replaces deteriorated cartilage, correcting alignment and returning ligaments to their normal tension.

The surgery is less expensive and less invasive than that required for a total knee replacement. Patients spend at least one night in the hospital and six to 12 weeks recovering at home.

Scott said the surgery is covered by most insurance plans and costs about $5,000 to $6,000, which is about half the cost of a total knee.

It fills a void for patients who've failed to get relief from pain medication, physical therapy or braces but are too young for a knee replacement, Scott said.

Doctors hesitate to do total knees on younger people because they last 10 to 15 years, and the surgery is traumatic. The average age for a total knee patient is 68, according to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

As Chewelah, Wash., resident Belinda Playfair's knee grew more painful over the years, she was told she would have to wait until age 60 to have total knee replacement surgery.

In her 40s, Playfair couldn't imagine living with excruciating pain for that long. She hoped for a medical breakthrough and thinks she may have found it in the UniSpacer knee implant.

She had surgery May 9 at Holy Family Hospital and spent one night there.

"I was able to get out of bed immediately and put weight on it," she said. "This is buying me 10 years if I take care of myself."

Because it's so new, no one yet knows how long the UniSpacer will provide relief, Scott said.

The ideal candidate is between 40 to 60 years old, in good health and not excessively overweight, he said.

Scott was trained in October and has implanted about 20 UniSpacers.

There have been about 750 UniSpacers implanted so far, said Kristi Puls, a spokeswoman for the manufacturer, Sulzer Orthopedics.

Last year, Sulzer obtained marketing clearance for the UniSpacer with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Puls said. No clinical trials were required because the company was able to show that similar products were approved in the 1950s and 1960s.

Sulzer Orthopedics' parent company recently agreed to a $1 billion settlement in a class lawsuit by patients who received faulty artificial knees and hips. The artificial joints, recalled in December 2000, had been mistakenly sprayed with a lubricant that prevented proper healing.

Scott, the Spokane surgeon, has had patients ask about the recall.

"I explain to them what happened in the recall and let them make their own mind up," Scott said. "I'd say, 'I'm not worried about it.' …It's a totally different manufacturing process."

Article from the "The Spokesman-Review," Spokane Washington.

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