Novosibirsk State Technical University, NEVZ-CERAMICS, JSC and Novosibirsk Traumatology and Orthopaedics Institute named after Tzivjan Ya.L. signed the agreement to produce the unique knee joint prostheses with high strength ceramic liners. The agreement was signed at the International Forum ‘Technoprom,2018’ in August.
The specificity of the prosthesis is the innovative high-strength ceramic liner developed at NSTU. So far the knee joint prostheses are mostly made of titanium alloy or super molecular polyethylene. However, those materials wear out during the period of 10-15 years. That is why people having such implants have to change the prosthesis which involves being operated again. The service life of prostheses made of ceramics is twice as long in comparison with titanium and polyethylene ones.
Russia is the first country in the world where the production of ceramic knee joints will be launched. As Anatoly Bataev, NSTU rector and one of the designer of the prosthesis, says, ‘The experience of one of the German companies showed that the considerable disadvantage of ceramic knee joints is the vulnerability to bending, while they nicely operate in conditions of pressure and friction. Our task was to eliminate bending stress. We have changed the mode of prosthesis operation and achieved high reliability”.
The prosthesis has been designed by the team of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Technology. By the end of 2018 Novosibirsk company NEVZ-CERAMICS will have produced the trial lot of prostheses. Then they will be tested in Novosibirsk Traumatology and Orthopaedics Institute.
Some years ago NSTU, NEVZ-CERAMICS and Traumatology and Orthopaedics Institute designed and tested ceramic hip implant. Since that time more than 3,000 patients have been operated to implant ceramic hip prostheses in Russia. The demand for innovative ceramic knee joint prosthesis in Russian market is estimated to be several thousand a year.