Sectra Begins Cooperation with Zimmer for Orthopaedic Surgery

The IT and medical imaging company Sectra has signed a non-exclusive cooperation agreement with Zimmer GmbH, a global leader in musculoskeletal care, allowing Zimmer to provide its customers in certain European countries with Sectra’s online 2D preoperative planning system for orthopaedic surgery. The agreement is an important step in Sectra’s strategy for expanding its online services offering, though it is expected to have limited financial impact on Sectra’s medical operation for the current fiscal year. Sectra is a market leader in orthopaedic planning. The organisation’s digital planning tools can be used to plan both joint reconstruction and trauma surgery. The online service functions, regardless of the customer’s PACS supplier and the pre-operative planning tools, can improve quality of care by increasing pre-operative planning accuracy, thus reducing risks of postoperative complications. The Sectra online service, Sectra Preop Online, provides high-precision digital templating tools to surgeons, allowing them to digitally plan their joint replacement surgeries for an optimal surgical outcome. With digital templating, orthopaedic surgeons can create a consistent and well-documented workflow, increase accuracy when planning implant sizes and alignments, plan for different scenarios beforehand and ensure that the right implants are always available. More than 151 million people worldwide suffer from osteoarthritis, the most common cause of hip and knee replacement surgery. In 2011, about three million hip and knee replacement procedures were performed globally, according to Orthoworld, a provider of products in the fied. This figure is expected to rise with an aging population and lifestyle changes. “Through cooperation with partners with an extensive network and high market presence, Sectra anticipates expanding its orthopaedic business further,” commented Hanna Eriksson, General Manager of Sectra’s orthopaedic operations.