Two conditions must be met for a Total Wrist Replacement:
A. Preserving the blood supply to the bone to allow proper healing and the stability of the implant over the life time of the implant. 12 to 19 years should be considered as success.
Keep in mind that the blood supply comes from the bone’s spongy inner part (intramedullary part) Current TWA implants use large metal components and connect them to the bone from the inner part of the bone, by doing so, it damages the blood supply and the healing.
The WristArt is connected from the outer part of the bone from the cortical side.
Thus, preserving the blood supply and allowing better and faster healing. Without a proper blood supply patients develop bone necrosis which leads to implant loosening and failure.
B. The goal is to preserve as many natural joints as possible in the wrist. The Metacarpal joints are a group of small joints in the palm / hand.
Those joints are essential for the functionality of the wrist. In The WristArt, we remove two joints and replace them with two artificial joints. So basically, The WristArt keeps the same number of functional joints as in healthy wrist. By doing that, we preserve the range of motion and wrist functionality of the wrist.
