Washington, D.C.-based MedStar Georgetown University Hospital has completed the world’s first all-plastic total ankle replacement surgery, according to an Oct. 1 report from The Moco Show.
The patient, a 71-year-old Maryland resident, has been allergic to metal her whole life, but X-rays showed she had little to no cartilage left in her right foot.
Paul Cooper, MD, a foot and ankle orthopedic specialist at MedStar Georgetown, offered her the alternative surgical option.
"The patient, with severe documented sensitivities to a variety of metals would have few, if any, options otherwise," Dr. Cooper told The Moco Show. "Even ankle fusion, an alternative to replacement at the expense of eliminating ankle joint motion, would not be possible without the use of some form of metal to achieve a successful outcome. The plastic ankle offers pain relief while preserving joint mobility, which the vast majority of patients currently prefer over fusion."
Since commercial joint replacements have been commercially available, the material has been made of metal, with little change over the last 60 years.
Plastics have been used for years in limited roles for spacers and wedges. Poly ethyl ketone, the material used to create the implant, was developed in the early 1960s. Polymer options have numerous advantages, including being trimmable, antibacterial, malleable and MRI friendly.
PEEK has been used for over 10 years for partial skull replacements, spine and other fusions in the body, according to the report.