Smith & Nephew Aquire Blue Belt Computer Assisted System
Smith & Nephew is jumping into the growing field of robotically assisted knee surgery by acquiring Plymouth???s Blue Belt Technologies for $275 million…
…Blue Belt makes a computer-assisted surgical drill called the Navio that is approved for partial-knee replacement surgeries. The computer allows a doctor to treat a partly arthritic knee by precisely drilling out a compartment in a patient???s lower femur bone to make space for a new metal implant…
…Blue Belt???s Navio system has no robotic arm. Rather, the doctor uses a freehand bone drill whose bur is retracted or stopped automatically when the computer senses that the tool is outside the three-dimensional zone where bone is supposed to be cut…