Siemens’ NX enables the pioneering of cementless knee replacements

Siemens’ solutions enable LimaCorporate to pioneer cementless knee replacements using NX to design their additively manufactured implants. LimaCorporate is a global orthopedics company. The company collaborated with the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS).

Trabecular Titanium, a 3D printed hexagonal cell structure, was created to resemble natural bone. Today, over 150K implants have been performed around the world. Michele Pressacco, vice president of Research and Development, LimaCorporate stated, “We aligned with HSS to develop a topologically optimized component to maximize strength.”

Watch this video to discover how 3D printing was used to create a lattice to facilitate bone ingrowth for cementless knee replacements.

Siemens unifies the additive manufacturing workflow

NX is an integrated platform that uses the latest additive manufacturing methods. The breakthrough technology delivers advanced methods for designing lightweight parts.

“When the company began designing the implants with additive manufacturing, the competition was dying to meet the results. We were lacking a connection between our development, design and production steps. Now we have reduced the time for job preparation by fifty percent,” stated Riccardo Toninato, manager, Additive Manufacturing, LimaCorporate.

During testing, the team came up with a list of functionalities that were missing. Naeem Hassan, senior engineer, Additive Manufacturing, LimaCorporate, stated “The speed in which the Siemens’ R&D teams responded was astonishing. With the previous workflow, the lattice generation it was taking me about 15 minutes. I can now finish the lattice generation in two minutes max.

Watch this video to learn how the team saved time and eliminated all the human errors that could occur.

First surgeries bring promising results

Dr. Ivan de Martino, surgeon on the HSS Research Team, was the first to use the new tibial plate in surgery. “We were the first in the world to perform this type of surgery with this new implant. I have seen these patients after six weeks, three months, and six months, and they are doing great.”