Page 12 - Rochester Medicine | 2019 Volume 1 | University of Rochester Medical Center

Synthetic Cartilage Offers New Solutions for Arthritis Care

Judith F. Baumhauer, MD, MPH, helped bring world just to see if they’re candidates for
synthetic cartilage as a treatment for arthritis this,” she notes.
to the U.S. She led research to demonstrate its Baumhauer presented 5.8-year results on
safety and efficacy and performed the nation’s the initial study of the participants in July
first implant. 2018. “It’s a 90 percent win with only one out
of 10 implant patients experiencing continued
54 million people and driving $140 billion in pain at two years,” Baumhauer notes. “We
health care costs every year. saw a slight drop-off to 85 percent at 5.8
Baumhauer’s research could be offering years, and for the 10 percent of cases that did
patients and physicians an important next not respond well at two years, the implant
step. “Until now, the best treatment for can be removed with no adverse reactions.
severe great toe arthritis has been to fuse The surgeon can then fuse the toe as would
the toe, leaving it stiff but with the pain have done prior to the Cartiva, so when you
being markedly less,” she says. “But patients remove the implant and you fuse it, you don’t
When it comes to often want to retain their motion. Previous lose any ground in the pain relief. Unfortu-
managing arthritis, generations of implants have been shown to nately, you do lose the motion.”
there hasn’t been cause some bone destruction and wear debris Implant patients also expressed high
much movement in that make treating the toe, if the implant levels of satisfaction. Ninety-three percent
recent years. Physicians and their patients fails, much more difficult.” Baumhauer said they would have the procedure again.
had a time-tested but limited range of notes that the results from previous types Patients reported a 97 percent median
treatments: from anti-inflammatory and pain of implants have often shown to be less reduction in pain, 25 percent improvement
medications, to cortisone or hyaluronic acid beneficial than traditional fusion. in range of motion, and 176 percent median
injections, and for end-stage, bone-on-bone That is what makes this new implant improvement in sporting activities.
sufferers joint fusion or total joint so exciting. Baumhauer and her fellow “The study demonstrated that the Cartiva
replacement. But Judith F. Baumhauer, researchers in the MOTION study determined implant was as effective as fusion for pain
MD (MPH ’09, Flw ’09) says new research that the synthetic cartilage implant and function and yet it improved range of
is showing a promising option—and it is manufactured by Cartiva , a medical device motion of the toe, ” Baumhauer says.
TM
proving to be a game changer. company out of Alpharetta, Ga., was effective “I anticipate that it will become a very
Baumhauer was principal investigator in providing pain relief and was superior in common procedure, and I’m gratified that
on a study to test synthetic cartilage as a preserving range of motion. the initial results have continued as the
new treatment for arthritis. Baumhauer, an Days after the FDA approval came, procedure has expanded to other centers and
orthopaedic surgeon specializing in foot and Baumhauer was the first U.S. surgeon to physicians across the country.”
ankle surgery, professor, and associate chair implant the device in a patient. The small, The next step for synthetic cartilage will
of academic affairs in Orthopaedics, led a translucent implant looks and feels like a be testing its potential for other joints in the
seven-year, multi-center study in Canada gumdrop, but is able to cushion a joint that body. Led by Warren Hammert, MD, Chief of
and the United Kingdom. The MOTION study takes 300 percent of a person’s body weight the Hand and Wrist Division, the University
compared joint fusion surgery patients with each step, for thousands of steps a of Rochester is one of five U.S. academic
with those who received synthetic cartilage day. Some 17,000 U.S. patients have had medical centers to trial the implants to treat
implants to treat severe great toe arthritis. the implant since Baumhauer’s first case, thumb arthritis—the most common form of
The most common form of arthritis in the and follow-up on the MOTION patients is arthritis in the hand. Thumb arthritis affects
foot, great toe arthritis affects one in 40 promising. The synthetic cartilage device one in four post-menopausal women, which
individuals over age 50. seems to be holding up, even in the busiest is one reason the Cartiva implant is being
The promise of a new type of treatment single joint in the body. tested for improved motion and pain relief.
is significant. Osteoarthritis is the leading Since that first procedure, Baumhauer Hammert performed the center’s first hand
cause of disability in the U.S., affecting says the interest in the implant has exploded. procedure using Cartiva in June 2018.
“We have people flying in from all over the

“America’s population is aging, obesity is at epidemic levels, and youths and adults are

experiencing higher levels of anxiety and depression. We are seeing the impact of this

throughout the Medical Center, particularly in our orthopaedics patients.” – Paul T. Rubery, MD
9 ROCHESTER MEDICINE | 2019 – V1