Metronor Enters the Medical Market—First Multisystem Contract Signed

Published: Thursday, August 21, 2014 - 16:57

(Metronor: Oslo, Norway)  Metronor—a leading supplier of industrial and military geometry measurement systems—has won the first multi-system contract for its new line of precision guidance systems for surgical procedures.

Developed from mature Metronor core technology, the new product line offers unique advantages over existing surgical guidance products and is a perfect match for initial customer Ortoma’s surgical planning and navigation suite.

Says Metronor CEO, Oeyvind Roetvold, “We are delighted to enter the medical market, and particularly to do so with Ortoma as our launch customer. Our companies share the philosophy that to be truly value-added, a planning and navigation solution must enable the surgeon to secure a better outcome for the individual patient. This means efficient high-precision measurements based on patient-specific geometry rather than library approximations, but equally important it means that the navigation system must offer what current solutions generally don’t.

“An unobtrusive tool that adapts to the surgeon’s work flow, rather than a cumbersome device that—physically—interferes with the process.

“Metronor believes that our new system represents the next generation in this respect, and we expect it to go a long way towards addressing the very slow adaptation of computer aided surgery in, for example, hip replacement.”

Ortoma CEO, Bertil G. Larsson agrees. “While patient-specific 3D planning certainly has benefits on its own—like enabling the surgeon to compensate in his plan also for changes in patient geometry that have taken place as, e.g., a hip joint wore down—these benefits increase tremendously when a precision navigation system can be used to quickly and efficiently ensure that the surgery actually results in the intended geometry. This speeds patient recovery, improves patient quality-of-life post-surgery and can result in tremendous cost savings for insurers and society as revisions—repeat surgery when implants fail—can be reduced dramatically. Ortoma has therefore always planned to include navigation in our overall solution.

“For us, Metronor’s system was the obvious choice as it offers a range of unique benefits. In order to achieve wide acceptance for computer aided surgery—an obvious issue with existing offerings—the total solution must be perceived as benefit to the surgeon—a new tool that supports him, not a cumbersome device that obstructs his natural work process. We have found that Metronor’s uniquely small, head-mounted camera significantly reduces line-of-sight and obstruction issues, while the small and fully sealed targets are both unobtrusive and very rugged. In a unique way, it supports our vision of providing a computer-aided solution that surgeons will not just accept, but wholeheartedly embrace as an improvement on current practices.”

The Metronor navigation system consists of a single electro-optical camera—typically worn by the surgeon using a head-mount that can be combined with lamps and or loupes—and a set of targets that attach to surgical elements, implants or the patient.

About The Author

Metronor

Metronor AS is an international high technology company headquartered outside Oslo, Norway, with subsidiaries in Seattle and Beijing. Based on in-house innovation, research, and its core photogrammetric technology, Metronor has developed a range of portable electro-optical coordinate measuring systems. It also offers products and solutions for boresighting applications in the military business area. Through a joint initiative with the Boeing Co., Metronor provides state-of-the-art dimensional management solutions for complex assembly programs.