- Peter Highlander, DPM, MS, a board certified foot and ankle surgeon at The Reconstruction Institute in Bellevue, in partnership with Hensler Surgical Products (HSP), recently received patents from the United States Patent and Trademark office.
Peter Highlander, DPM, MS, a board certified foot and ankle surgeon at The Reconstruction Institute in Bellevue, in partnership with Hensler Surgical Products (HSP), recently received patents from the United States Patent and Trademark office for two orthopedic applications using the Hensler Bone Press™ (HBP).
Dr. Highlander, who is a member of The Bellevue Hospital medical staff, worked with HSP to develop bone graft harvesters that would benefit his patients. Bone grafting, or transplanting of bone tissue, is a surgical procedure used to repair and rebuild diseased bones and joints. Grafts can also repair bone loss caused by some types of fractures or cancers.
"Our goal was to develop new techniques leveraging the capabilities of the bone press that allow for easy, less invasive, and more productive harvesting of lower extremity graft sources,” said Dr. Highlander. “The graft and marrow yield after reaming the tibial canal was more than we anticipated, more so benefiting the patient and containing sheer cost of alternatives."
Since 2012, the HBP has been primarily for spinal fusion cases. Several years ago, Dr. Highlander approached HSP with an idea to use HBP for orthopedic applications on lower extremity cases. The two newly patented techniques focus on Intramedullary (IM) post-reaming and tibial condyle harvesting methodology. The broader range of multi-disciplinary surgical applications will improve fusion outcomes and cost containment through smaller cortical windows and within the created tibial medullary canal, already prepared for hardware placement, specifically tibial IM rods & nails.
Clinically proven procedures, engineered around the use of the high-speed drill for both the cortical window and post-reamed medullary canal (i.e. tibial canal) of the patient-derived mixed autologous material, allows for safe and speedy extraction of cancellous bone and liquid bone marrow, from either the lower extremity condyles and/or the intramedullary canal.
“The Highlander procedures, appropriately named after the surgeon who developed the technique, Dr. Highlander, will add a huge element of universal utilization in the operative theater, expanding its use from spinal procedures to lower extremity fusion procedures. The Condylar technique, developed by Dr. Highlander, boasts a small cortical window, that precisely targets autologous bone graft,” said Thomas E. Melin, M.D., neurosurgeon and co-founder of HSP.
"Harvesting cancellous bone and liquid bone marrow, from within the tibial condyle(s) and iliac crest is widely accepted. The HBP device boasts (thanks to Dr. Highlander) two patented techniques for orthopedic applications. The end result affords significant patient benefit by allowing the use of local bone and marrow which is the ‘Gold Standard’ in terms of fusion success WITHOUT impacting their already planned procedure,” said Dr. Melin.
The cases performed have proven high yield harvesting of the two critical sources of autologous material. The device has clinically proven, in three and six month post-fusion analysis, indicating radiographically, strong bony union.
The Hensler Bone Press™ - Orthopedic Edition is available through Hensler Surgical Products, LLC.
Dr. Highlander received his doctor of podiatric medicine from Barry University in Miami Shores, Florida and is known for his use of 3D printed custom implants. In January 2018, Dr. Highlander performed Ohio's first successful total talus, or ankle, replacement using 3D printing. He is also the first surgeon in the U.S. to perform a custom cuboid bone replacement.
About Hensler Surgical Products
Hensler Surgical Products offers a wide range of products with the portfolio centered around neurosurgical and orthopedic spine, orthopedic (foot and ankle) devices and restorative/regenerative devices and tissue products. For more information, visit henslersurgical.com