AOSSM 2005: A Sports Medicine Trip Report
BY JOHN MCCORMICK, JULY 15, 2005
Perhaps the most startling innovation of this years AOSSM sports medicine conference was a palm pilot kiosk where surgeons and exhibitors could beam the entire conference program and floorplan into their cellphones and PDAs in about 30 seconds. Immediately addicted, we walked the floor using this neat little digital guide (developed by Near Space) which listed just about everything including the coffee temperature. What a way to experience a conference in the alluring ski resort of Keystone, CO at 9,300 feet above sea level. Unfortunately, this tricked out software program did not lead us to many game changing technologies in the sports medicine arena. Like the glacial pace of change in aviation and alternate fuel technologies, surgical devices in sports medicine and bracing continue to develop in evolutionary versus revolutionary steps.
Here are some of our observations from the conference.
The ArthroCare/Opus Mind Meld
You could just feel the energy pulsing when visiting the ArthroCare/Opus booth. We quizzed several of the companys staff on the integration front and you could tell it was not the same old sales pitch. The ArthroCare and Opus technologies are achieving real sales synergies and each company is leveraging their respective distribution capabilities. The Opus sutureless arthroscopic rotator cuff repair technology is so compelling, it seems to be inducing surgeons to go arthroscopic vs. open in a number of cases. Thats a key consideration to justify last years seemingly lofty acquisition price. Although Opus is beginning to test out its technology on labrum repair, it looks like it is going to take awhile to scale the sutureless technology platform into other areas. But if anyone can scale technology, ArthroCare can do it. Opus is in good hands and 2 + 2 is starting to look like 5.
AirCast
Aircast seems to be entering the 21st Century by coloring some of its braces black versus the original sterile looking white. Now you can look like a new millennium ninja on the soccer field. Kidding aside, it makes sense to offer different colors since Aircast has a one-of-a-kind asset in the industry: consumer brand recognition. Every soccer Mom has heard of AirCast and that is especially important when the company has very little in the way of intellectual property to stand on.
Biomet/Arthrotek
We like the Innervue product which is a miniature scope that allows for an internal look at an injured/diseased joint vis a vis a small pinprick. Even though it is not new, we think the term "diagnoscopy" should enter the orthopedics lexicon sooner rather than later.
BREG
BREG challenged our notion that a brace is just a brace with their new FUSION product. Our reactions on the FUSION brace are here.
J&J/DePuy/Mitek
Mitek announced that it will be distributing Orthovisc High Molecular Weight Hyaluronan. That caused us to run across the floor and ask the crew at the Sanofi Avenits booth about the optimal HA molecular weight and their answer was medium, e.g. our product and not the other guy. Any outcomes based clinical studies? Not yet. In all fairness, Sanofi Avenits is making a presence in the scientific dialogue by voicing the notion that best-of-breed stimulation of HA stimulation in synoviocytes depends on molecular weight.
dj Orthopedics
King of the hill in bracing, CEO Les Cross, was at the show with a formidable army of a salesforce. We were moved by an ad placed by DJO in Orthopedics Today showing that Big Wave Surfer Garrett McNamara was back surfing mammoth waves after a severe knee injury thanks to a DJO Defiance brace. Big wave surfing, bar none, is the hardest and most dangerous sport in the world so McNamara was entrusting his life to a DJO brace. Pretty impressive.
Scandius Biomedical
For the first time, Scandius was out in full battle regalia: company polo shirts, Bluetooth cellphone earpieces and an impressive plasma screen with 3-D animations on their elegant ACL graft-placement technology. We look forward to the completion of their ACL implant catalogue.
Smith & Nephew
The mighty Smith and Nephew showed us some cool tidbits such as their GTS Sleeve for graft protection in knee ligament surgeries. Only monopolar tissue ablation wands were to be found in the product brochures thanks to last years patent infringement suitwith ArthroCare.
Certainly there were other innovations to be seen such as longer lasting batteries in power tools, better suture anchors, isometric graft placement devices and the like, but AOSSM was very much a conference of steady-as-she goes technology developments.
