Stryker Implant Liquefies Under Ultrasonic Energy

Stryker is touting its SonicAnchor as able to flow into cancellous bone to create a stable fixation.

Chris Newmarker

Stryker's foot and ankle business recently announced that the company's SonicAnchor soft tissue implant is now available across the U.S. for suture or tissue fixation in open procedures involving the foot, ankle, knee, hand, wrist, elbow, or shoulder.

SonicAnchor's design along with the company's SonicFusion technology appear to offer high pull out strength, lowering the risk of breakage during insertion. The tip of the SonicAnchor is a bioresorbable polylactide polymer that liquefies under ultrasonic energy, allowing for stable fixation within 5 seconds.

"Every time I place one, I am truly impressed by the strength and performance of this small implant," Adam Schiff, MD, an orthopaedic surgeon at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, IL, said in a news release.

SonicAnchor is 2.5 mm in diameter. It supports a number of foot and ankle open procedures, such as Achilles tendon repair, lateral and medial stabilization, hallux valgus reconstruction, midfoot reconstruction, metatarsal ligament repair, and digital tendon transfer.

Tom Popeck, vice president and general manager of Stryker's Foot and Ankle business unit, says SonicFusion technology is "unlike any other on the market."

It makes one of a number of innovative product announcements Stryker has made in recent months. For example, Stryker recently introduced its FDA-cleared Tritanium PL Cage, a 3-D printed spinal cage meant to promote bone ingrowthand lumbar fixation.

The company is also building a 3-D printing manufacturing facility in Cork, Ireland.

Stryker's stock performance was one of the best among major medical device companies during the first six months of 2016. The orthopedics giant upped full-year guidance for both sales and profits in April after reporting robust growth in the first quarter.

Chris Newmarker is senior editor of Qmed. Follow him on Twitter at @newmarker.

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