What's really going on with that knee that's giving you trouble? A new device from JointVue, with headquarters in the TechColumbus incubator, may soon give your orthopedic surgeon the ability to see and hear the problem.
JointVue Vision-D Plus, a medical device that combines 3-D ultrasound and Joint Sound (vibration analysis) allows analysis of joint abnormalities through the use of vision and sound -- in real time. The company says a major benefit of the technology will be the capture of 3-D dynamic joint motion, without exposure of the patient to radiation. In addition to competing against X-ray, 3-D computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and fluoroscopy, JointVue is maintaining 3-D anatomic joint databases expected to be of interest to orthopedic companies.
JointVue Vision-D is one of four tools under development to make treatment of joint abnormalities simpler and more precise. Joint Guide, will allow scanning of the joint to allow more precise placement of injectables.
The venture is lead locally by Chief Medical Officer Ray Wasielewski, M.D., a board-certified orthopedic surgeon who specializes in minimally invasive hip and knee replacement.
"These new technologies will allow us to move treatment of joint abnormalities into the offices of medical practitioners and away from the offices of specialists and hospitals, says Wasielewski, "and that will reduce costs."
Clinical trials of parts of the system are currently under way at Grant Hospital in Columbus, Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey and Vanderbilt University in Tennessee.
Sources: Ray Wasielewski, JointVue; company and industry websites
Writer: Dana Griffith