The Finn Knee System, an orthopedic prosthesis that debuted in 1991 for limb salvage and difficult knee surgeries, was recently acknowledged by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), Rosemont, Ill, as one of the more notable orthopedic innovations of the 1990s.
Henry Finn, MD, chief of orthopedic surgery at Weiss Memorial Hospital, Chicago, medical director of the University of Chicago Bone and Joint Replacement Center at Weiss, and professor of surgery at University of Chicago, designed the implant.
The system is highlighted in the October issue of AAOS Now, which chronicles orthopedic achievement in the 1990s—a decade marked by rapidly advancing technology. The record is part of the AAOS’ 75th Anniversary Celebration, which looks at more than 1,500 events in the 75-year history of orthopedics.
According to the maker of the implant, Biomet Inc, more than 12,000 patients in the United States have benefited from the System and what it evolved into in 2000—the OSS Orthopaedic Salvage System featuring the Finn Knee, a complete salvage revision/oncology limb-reconstructive system.
Finn says it treats people with extensive bone and ligament damage as a result of deformity, trauma, revision, infection, or cancer, which conventional knee replacement would not be able to accomplish.
The Finn Knee was also recognized as one of the most significant advancements in the field of orthopedics in the last century in the millennium edition of Orthopedics Today (January 2000).
Finn has helped invent other orthopedic prostheses: the Balance Hip, a cementless hip replacement that enables patients immediate weight-bearing on the hip; the Vanguard SSK Knee, a super-stabilized knee used in complicated and revisional knee surgeries; the Balance Microplasty Hip, used in minimally invasive surgery; and the OSS Salvage Cage, used for revisions in cases of catastrophic failure of hip-replacement sockets..
