Miami Orthopedics & Sports Medicine Institute's John Uribe, MD, spoke to Becker's Spine Review about what trends he expects to see in total joint replacement and preservation over the next five to 10 years.
He shared the following insights:
"As far as the shoulder is concerned, I think that we'll try to go more toward — it may not be metal — [but] other synthetics that are being tried with less wear and better coefficients of friction. I think that that's going to be a trend in pretty much all joints — if we can just reshape them and resurface, as opposed to really replace. In the knee, the mobile bearing has been extremely successful on the medial side, just to do partial replacements.
"Some people are even doing partial replacements of both sides, as well as an inset or inlay in the patellofemoral joint — just trying different ways to recreate and restore the anatomy. And who knows where biologics will really play a role in that.
"Companies today are doing some genetic modifications to try and keep the inflammatory cytokines down so that maybe by reducing inflammation of the joint, over the course of time, we'll reduce the incidence of osteoarthritis. There's a lot of work there, and that's really interesting to try and get the interleukin antigens working so that they block inflammation."
Note: Response was lightly edited for style and clarity. To participate in future Becker's Q&As, contact Angie Stewart at astewart@beckershealthcare.com.
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