Solvay’s resin enables Intelligent Implant Systems to pioneer a new single-use instrument kit for anterior cervical fusion procedures

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Solvay has announced that the high stiffness, strength, gamma sterilisation resistance and biocompatibility of its Ixef polyarylamide (PARA) resin helped enable a new single-use instrument kit for anterior cervical fusion procedures.

The MEDIANT Anterior Cervical Plating System, developed by Intelligent Implant Systems, has used Solvay’s advanced polymer to help boost operating room (OR) efficiency, eliminate onsite sterile processing and reduce infection risk.

Ixef GS-1022 PARA forms the awl and pin-screwdriver handles, measuring caliper, and locking plier handles in Intelligent Implant Systems’ kit.

Due to its good impact resistance, this eliminates the need for a metal strike plate that had been part of the awl’s early designs, reducing cost and simplifying the manufacture and assembly of the instrument.

The material is available in a range of gamma-stabilised colours, including the signature green of the MEDIANT System’s tools.

Solvay’s PARA polymer has been evaluated for ISO 10993 limited duration biocompatibility and is supported by an FDA Master Access File, which helped streamline the MEDIANT kit’s navigation through regulatory approvals.

Marc Richelsoph, President and CEO of Intelligent Implant Systems, said: “The primary benefit of Solvay’s Ixef PARA in this application is its metal-like strength, which gives our single-use surgical instruments a very high level of performance without incurring the costs associated with machining metal and repeated steam sterilisation.”

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