Kinamed's Low Wear Design Concept
Today, the generation of polyethylene wear debris and the phenomenon of wear-debris mediated osteolysis is identified as the major design challenge in seeking consistent long term survivability of total joint implants. Kinamed's design engineers brought years of innovative, documented, and proven design concepts to address the creation of a joint implant with improved wear characteristics. The result? The Gem™ Total Knee System.
The Gem™ Knee relies on four primary elements in seeking its goal of significantly reduced poly wear:
- Precise instrumentation to facilitate proper placement and orientation of the knee components
- Optimized articulating surface topography to maximize contact areas and minimize damaging peak stress polyethylene loading
- Precise kinematics to insure appropriate stability and range of motion
- Advanced biomaterials, including zirconia, metal and polyethylene to minimize friction and wear
A Unique Collaboration
Kinamed partnered with Kyocera Corporation of Kyoto, Japan to
create the Gem™ Total Knee System. Building upon its prior experience, the Kinamed engineering group created an articular topography designed to set new standards in load transfer across the wear couple. The design seeks to carefully control contact area throughout range of motion to minimize peak stress loading and the resulting potential for wear debris generation. Its multiple radius approach and deep sulcus provide for optimal joint kinematics.
Kyocera Corporation is the acknowledged world leader in ceramic technology for both orthopedic and industrial applications. Kyocera applied its unparalleled expertise in ceramic engineering, manufacturing and finishing technologies to produce a zirconia femoral component option for this knee system. The superior hardness, abrasion resistance and wettability of zirconia offer the potential for significantly reduced polyethylene wear rates.
Additional Features of The Gem™ Total Knee System
Femoral Component
- CoCr (ASTM F-75) femoral components in both cruciate sparing and posterior stabilized versions, utilizing exacting manufacturing and finishing technologies
- Zirconia ceramic femoral component option building on Kyocera Corporation's 20 years of ceramic total knee experience in Japan
Tibial Component
- The UHMWPe tibial insert is manufactured from Hoecht GUR 415
- Full constraint within the tibial baseplate minimizes polyethylene movement and cold flow.
- ETO sterilization eliminates oxidation concerns.
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