LONDON, Oct. 8, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Smith & Nephew (NYSE: SNN; LSE: SN), the global medical technology business, today announced the successful outcome of the first total knee replacement in Colombia using the innovative VISIONAIRE Cutting Guides. The surgery, which was performed by Dr. César Rocha at Fundación Cardio Infantil de Bogotá, demonstrates the expanding global popularity of the pioneering, patient-specific VISIONAIRE instrumentation, as well as the company's increasing presence in the Latin American joint replacement market.

VISIONAIRE Cutting Guides are single-use, surgical instruments designed using MRI and X-Ray data to accurately match the unique anatomy of each patient's knee joint. The precise fit of the cutting guides allows a surgeon to accommodate the specific shapes and angles of the joint while aligning the implant to offer the desired outcome. Also, because the cutting guides arrive to the surgeon ready to use, VISIONAIRE surgeons are able to eliminate multiple steps from the surgery that would otherwise be necessary to prepare the patient to receive the standard, more invasive instrumentation.i

"This technology is remarkable," says Dr. Rocha. "I now arrive in the operating room with a unique surgical plan for each patient's knee anatomy and specialized surgical instruments to match. Plus, the simplified procedure means that my patients may face shorter surgeries that result in accurately placed implants, while my staff and I have fewer instrument trays to manage and surgical steps to perform."

A 2011 study published in the Journal of Arthroplasty (JOA) reported that patient-matched technologies, such as VISIONAIRE Cutting Guides, can reduce a hospital's sterilization costs while increasing OR efficiency by eliminating nearly half of the instrument trays needed and more than twenty surgical steps from each surgery.ii

"As a company, Smith & Nephew has been very clear regarding our strategy to build dynamic and sustainable business in emerging markets around the world," said Maria Jesus Barrenechea, SVP and General Manager for Smith & Nephew's Latin American region. "Today, we are seeing that strategy come to life as the innovative VISIONAIRE system is introduced into one of the largest economies in Latin America."   

About Smith & Nephew

Smith & Nephew is a global medical technology business dedicated to helping healthcare professionals improve people's lives. With leadership positions in Orthopaedic Reconstruction, Advanced Wound Management, Sports Medicine and Trauma & Extremities, Smith & Nephew has around 14,000 employees and a presence in more than 100 countries. Annual sales in 2014 were more than $4.6 billion. Smith & Nephew is a member of the FTSE100 (LSE: SN, NYSE: SNN).

For more information about Smith & Nephew, please visit our corporate website www.smith-nephew.com, follow @SmithNephewplc on Twitter or visit SmithNephewplc on Facebook.com

Forward-looking Statements   
This document may contain forward-looking statements that may or may not prove accurate. For example, statements regarding expected revenue growth and trading margins, market trends and our product pipeline are forward-looking statements. Phrases such as "aim", "plan", "intend", "anticipate", "well-placed", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "target", "consider" and similar expressions are generally intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from what is expressed or implied by the statements. For Smith & Nephew, these factors include: economic and financial conditions in the markets we serve, especially those affecting health care providers, payers and customers; price levels for established and innovative medical devices; developments in medical technology; regulatory approvals, reimbursement decisions or other government actions; product defects or recalls; litigation relating to patent or other claims; legal compliance risks and related investigative, remedial or enforcement actions; strategic actions, including acquisitions and dispositions, our success in performing due diligence, valuing and integrating acquired businesses; disruption that may result from transactions or other changes we make in our business plans or organisation to adapt to market developments; and numerous other matters that affect us or our markets, including those of a political, economic, business, competitive or reputational nature. Please refer to the documents that Smith & Nephew has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission under the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including Smith & Nephew's most recent annual report on Form 20-F, for a discussion of certain of these factors. Any forward-looking statement is based on information available to Smith & Nephew as of the date of the statement. All written or oral forward-looking statements attributable to Smith & Nephew are qualified by this caution. Smith & Nephew does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect any change in circumstances or in Smith & Nephew's expectations.

Trademark of Smith & Nephew. Certain marks registered US Patent and Trademark Office.

i 40420112 Smith & Nephew GENESIS™ II DCF Surgical Technique

ii J. Nobel, MD, C. Moore, MS, N. Liu, MS; The Value of Patient-Matched Instrumentation in Total Knee Arthroplasty; Journal Arthroplasty, 2011, Volume 27, Issue 1, 153-155.

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SOURCE Smith & Nephew

Copyright 2015 PR Newswire

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