[slr555]

I observed a total knee replacement surgery where the surgeons were not using their preferred system due to the fact that the patient already had one knee replacement and the doctors felt the same system should be used on both sides. The representative from the implant company was in the OR for a couple of good reasons. The first was that every system uses different jigs and guides to aid in the resection of the bone and placement of the appliance, the representative helped the doctors understand how to use the system. The second reason was that the surgeons needed to have access to a range of component sizes to make sure they could place a correctly sized implant. Using the same system on both knees also helped ensure that the geometry of both knees would be consistent.

At the time I was pretty stunned that the rep was talking the docs through the operation but the procedure was successful and I learned that when new devices are introduced it is very often the company that trains surgeons in its use.

[lostlogin]

In my experience of this sort of situation, the reps are there to yell ‘stop’ when the orthopod tries to smack something fragile with a hammer. Each sub speciality has its traits and orthopaedics is no exception.