For the soft tissue approach to a total hip arthroplasty, you need to cut and manipulate soft tissue to reach the joint space. The less trauma you can cause to that soft tissue, the less inflammation and faster recovery for your hip replacement surgery patient.
Our HARMONIC SYNERGY® Blades may offer real benefits in terms of soft tissue management while gaining access to the hip joint space. After the skin incision is made (usually with a steel scalpel), HARMONIC® Blades can cut and coagulate the soft tissue. Using ultrasonic energy, it operates at lower temperatures, thus reducing desiccation of the tissue and lateral thermal spread.* Because it applies energy parallel to the force, trauma is reduced, which in turn reduces the inflammation processes.† And because it coagulates as it cuts, sealing the small vessels as you go, it can reduce blood loss when compared to monopolar electrosurgery.‡
Ethicon offers a portfolio of wound closure products that specifically address the unique needs of orthopedic surgery:
STRATAFIX™ Knotless Tissue Control Devices – a unique anchoring technology to maintain closure without knots:
- More consistent tension control and approximation with each pass than with traditional sutures
- Strength and security of interrupted suturing without knot-related complications1,122,123,133,141,145,150,153
- More efficient than continuous suturing with traditional sutures1,122,123,133,141,145,150,153
DERMABOND™ PRINEO™ Skin Closure System provides a triad of benefits to help you achieve excellent cosmetic outcomes
- STRONG – supports skin closure with strength equivalent to 3-0 MONOCRYL™ (poliglecaprone 25) subcuticular sutures ex vivo1
- EFFICIENT – may reduce final layer of skin closure time by up to 75%1
- PROTECTIVE – provides a flexible microbial barrier in vitro1
Plus Antibacterial Sutures – the only commercially available sutures with antibacterial protection
- Provides strength through critical healing period1,155
- Protection against bacterial colonization of the suture by organisms commonly associated with surgical site infection137,138,146
Site References
- * In a comparative tissue cutting study using chicken breast, the HARMONIC® Combination Hook Blade (HK105) cut at a lower tissue temperature (average temperature of 128 F or 53.3 C) compared with the monopolar electrosurgery pencil (average temperature of 230 F or 110 C). The difference was significant (p < .001).1
- †In a pre-clinical study, necropsy and histological evaluations indicated a significant reduction in acute inflammation for skeletal muscle wounds created by the HARMONIC Blade vs. monopolar electrosurgery at 3, 7, and 21 days post-op (p value = 0.011 for all post-operative periods).1 Per NIH, the definition of inflammation is "A response of redness, swelling, pain and a feeling of heat in certain areas that is meant to protect tissues affected by injury or disease." (http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/glossary=inflammation)
- ‡In a vessel sealing comparison, the HARMONIC Combination Hook Blade (HK105) sealed more 1-2 mm vessels than electrosurgery. Study conducted in porcine mesentery. In a pre-clinical study, porcine mesentery was used to compare the number of 1-2 mm vessels coagulated while cutting. The HARMONIC Combination Hook Blade("HK105", power level = 5) was compared to steel scalpel and monopolar electrosurgery (power level = 40W blend 1). The steel scalpel sealed zero of 20 vessels (0%), electrosurgery sealed 3 of 70 vessels (4.3%), and HARMONIC® HK105 sealed 64 out of 68 vessels (94.1%). Statistical analysis indicated that HARMONIC® HK105 sealed significantly more vessels while cutting than either the steel scalpel or electrosurgery (p < .001).1
