Zimmer Holdings to Feature Innovative Gender Solutions(TM) Hip Replacement at 2007 AAOS Meeting
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SAN DIEGO, Feb. 14 // -- Zimmer Holdings, Inc. (NYSE and SWX: ZMH), a leader in the orthopaedics industry, will advance its innovative Zimmer(R) Gender Solutions(TM) Technology with expanded research data and product solutions for gender-related issues in hip replacement during the 74th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons here on Wednesday, February 14, through Friday, February 16, 2007.
During the meeting's exhibit periods Zimmer also will feature the upcoming introduction of the Gender Solutions Natural-Knee(R) Flex System and surgeon clinical experiences with the Zimmer Gender Solutions Knee that was released last year. Data results from several new clinical studies on the Zimmer Gender Solutions Knee also will be available soon.
"Our gender-focused hip research reflects the ongoing efforts at Zimmer to address very real anatomical differences with product designs and corresponding surgical techniques that help surgeons continue to improve clinical results for their patients," said Ray Elliott, Zimmer Chairman, President and CEO. "We will be demonstrating to surgeons the products, technologies and design concepts we have developed to address these issues including the effects of osteoporosis. We are committed to expanding our leadership in understanding and addressing women's musculoskeletal health and are working to apply our gender-specific design philosophy wherever it is appropriate across our complete product line. "
Zimmer gender-related hip research has focused on three key scientific and clinical issues with identified differences between male and female hips. These are femoral head center location, femoral canal shape and femoral canal size.
Femoral head center location is important because traditional implants often don't easily accommodate the shorter head heights and offsets in women. This can increase surgical complexity, raising the risk of leg length discrepancy, impingement, and dislocation. The Zimmer(R) Gender Solutions(TM) M/L Taper Stem with Kinectiv(TM) Technology is designed to address the issues of offsets, head height and anteversion independently, such that an adjustment to one does not affect the others, offering the surgeon greater options in addressing specific patient anatomies.
Canal shape is important because in many females there tends to be greater variation between the proximal and distal width of the femoral canal. This mismatch creates a "stove pipe" effect that forces the surgeon to use a larger diameter implant that also has more head height and more offset, a common design philosophy in many of today's implants. As a result, patients may suffer leg length discrepancies that hamper the restoration of proper joint kinematics. Patient satisfaction research has indicated that maintaining proper leg length is especially important for women compared to men.
Canal size issues result most often with patients suffering osteoporosis, but this becomes a gender issue because about 80 percent of osteoporosis patients are women. As a result of the disease, cortices become thinner and the femoral canal wider. Wider canals require a larger implant stem, which with traditional implants are also stiffer and therefore increase the risk of post-operative thigh pain, stress shielding and potentially premature implant loosening.
A new gender-specific hip stem incorporating Zimmer's exclusive Epoch(R) Composite Hip technology is being developed to address these femoral canal size and shape differences. Because stems utilizing Epoch Technology are made from medical grade PEEK, they are more flexible than traditional implants. The Company believes the reduced bending stiffness can be helpful in situations where more "canal fill" is needed but a large metal stem could pose stress shielding risks.
A special Gender Solutions hip research area and a surgeon education presentation on gender issues in the hip will be featured in the Zimmer AAOS exhibit.
In Gender Solutions for the knee, the Company recently announced that nearly 10,000 surgeries implanting the Zimmer Gender Solutions Knee were performed in the fourth quarter of 2006, which exceeded Company expectations by more than 30 percent. Zimmer launched its first-ever major direct-to- patient marketing program last fall in support of the Gender Solutions Knee. The initial campaign utilized targeted television and print advertising in selected major U.S. markets that featured "The Blue Ladies" by artist R. O. Blechman (of The New Yorker magazine fame). The Blue Ladies will be available in person at the Zimmer AAOS exhibit. The campaign is being expanded to target 23 additional markets in the United States. A special information web site at GenderKnee.com has been created to provide public information about the Gender Solutions Knee.
"We are extremely pleased with how well our Gender Solutions Knee has been received by surgeons and patients since its release last year," Elliott said. "We believe this further validates our science-based approach to important gender differences, which can be addressed in total joint replacement surgery to help surgeons optimize their clinical results. Since women make up about 60 percent of all total knee replacement patients, the ability to expand our Gender Solutions technology to both of our two main knee product lines is an important step for us."
About the Company
Founded in 1927 and headquartered in Warsaw, Indiana, Zimmer is the worldwide #1 pure-play orthopaedic leader in designing, developing, manufacturing and marketing reconstructive and spinal implants, trauma and related orthopaedic surgical products. Zimmer has operations in more than 24 countries around the world and sells products in more than 100 countries. Zimmer's 2006 sales were approximately $3.5 billion. The Company is supported by the efforts of nearly 7,000 employees worldwide.
Visit Zimmer on the worldwide web at www.zimmer.com
View more Zimmer activities during the AAOS meeting week at
sandiego.zimmer.com
Source: Zimmer Holdings, Inc.
CONTACT: Media, Brad Bishop, +1-574-372-4291, or bradley.bishop@zimmer.com, or Sean O'Hara, +1-574-371-8032, or sean.f.ohara@zimmer.com
Web site: www.zimmer.com/
http://www.genderknee.com/
http://sandiego.zimmer.com/
