First smart knee implant for total knee replacement surgery in the Tri-State performed at Cabell Huntington Hospital

Monday, July 25, 2022

Nationally recognized orthopedic surgeon Ali Oliashirazi, M.D., performed the first Persona IQ® smart knee implant in the Tri-State at Cabell Huntington Hospital (CHH) earlier this month. The implant monitors patients’ post-surgical progress to ensure best outcomes.

According to Dr. Oliashirazi, surgical director of the Mary H. Hodges Joint Replacement Center at CHH, orthopedic surgeon at Marshall Health and professor /chair of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at the Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, the smart knee implant has sensor technology embedded within it that measures many parameters, including range of motion, step count, walking speed and other gait metrics.

“The Persona IQ technology is the latest advancement in knee replacements. We are able to take the data this technology gives us and use it to best optimize patient outcomes. By providing surgeons access to objective kinematic data directly from the implant, we can monitor a patient’s progress and recovery more closely than ever before,” Dr. Oliashirazi stated.

Persona IQ features implantable sensor technology that records and wirelessly transmits a wide range of gait data from the knee implant to a patient’s personal base station at home. The data is then securely delivered to a HIPAA-compliant cloud-based platform and can be accessed by the patients and their surgeon. Persona IQ will work together with mymobility®, a remote care management platform that tracks pre- and post-operative mobility metrics.

“The implant battery is estimated to last 10 years and will download data each time the patient returns home. The data is then sent to our office in real time with outliers flagged,” Dr. Oliashirazi said. “We will apply what we learn, such as the temperature in the knee and distribution of forces, to deliver the next level of the highest quality patient care.”

Highly advanced procedures like the smart knee implant surgery are available to patients of West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky through the academic health system relationship of Mountain Health Network, Marshall Health and the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine.

Patients who are interested in exploring a smart knee implant for their knee replacement surgery are encouraged to contact the Joint Replacement Center at 304.691.1538 or visit www.cabellhuntington.org/smart-knee-implant/ to learn more.