August 9, 2024- Dr. Ziegler and Cory Couch, M.D., orthopedic surgeon at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, are the only two Mayo Clinic surgeons who have implanted smart knee replacements in patients. They will become widely available after Mayo Clinic’s trial period of the technology.
Dr. Ziegler recently became the first surgeon in the health system to begin utilizing new sensor technology licensed by Zimmer Biomet through a partnership with Canary Medical. The smart orthopedic implants function just like standard knee replacements, but they include a sensor in the stem anchored in the shin bone that remotely monitors and tracks a patient’s recovery by measuring range of motion, steps, stride and other data associated with gait.
Remote monitoring is a major benefit in the rural healthcare setting, Dr. Ziegler says. Patients who live a longer distance from the hospital may not have to return for some in-person follow-up appointments during recovery if the smart knee data shows positive recovery metrics. A battery is guaranteed to last 10 years, although many will likely last longer, Dr. Ziegler says. When the battery dies, the knee replacement continues to function like a traditional knee replacement.