News

Exactech Announces First Surgeries with the World's First 'Surgical Navigation' for Total Ankle Replacement

• By John K. Waters
• 12/02/2024

Exactech, a medical device company that manufactures, sells, and distributes orthopedic implants, surgical instruments, and smart technologies for joint replacement, has announced first surgeries with its GPS Ankle technology.

"The launch of GPS Ankle highlights our ongoing commitment to providing innovative, industry-leading smart solutions for surgeons and their patients," said Exactech President and CEO Darin Johnson, in a statement. "GPS Ankle and our full suite of Active Intelligence technologies reinforce our drive to provide transformative smart solutions to help surgeons perform complex procedures."

GPS Ankle was designed to connect the preoperative plan with real-time intraoperative instrument guidance and confirm that resections meet the surgical plan. Based on pre-clinical bench testing and sawbones studies, it reports an accuracy of 2mm and 2 degrees relative to the CT-surgical plan. Its integrated CT visibility may also reduce potential fluoroscopy time.

The system, developed by Exactech subsidiary Blue Ortho, uses proprietary active tracker technology and a compact touchscreen tablet in the sterile field to provide surgeons with dynamic intraoperative feedback throughout their cases.

The first surgery was performed by one of GPS Ankle's design team surgeons Edward Haupt, M.D., of Mayo Florida, in Jacksonville, Fla. 

"I am proud to be the first in the world to use GPS Ankle," Haupt said in a statement. "This important new product is a tremendous accomplishment for our surgeon design team, Exactech and Blue Ortho. It improves the accuracy to execute on a surgical plan, and it's exciting that it's now available for ankle replacement surgery because navigation allows a surgery that is already technically challenging to be more reproducible, helping both surgeons and patients."

GPS Ankle is compatible with Exactech's flagship Vantage Total Ankle System and part of the company's Active Intelligence dynamic ecosystem of enabling technologies and smart solutions that empowers surgeons with data-rich, comparatively low-cost solutions to help improve patient outcomes.

"The intraoperative flexibility to confirm resections, and alter implant size and degrees of varus, valgus, rotation, slope and medial/lateral makes this a gamechanger for me and my patients," said James Nunley, M.D., of Duke Health, in a statement. "A product like this helps continue to move ankle surgery even further and allows us to envision a future where technology and surgeon expertise can hopefully yield even greater outcomes for patients."  

GPS Ankle will be available more extensively to hospitals and ASC centers without capital cost starting early next year, the company says.