Humber River first in Canada to buy Intellijoint HIP

KITCHENER, Ont. – Intellijoint HIP surgical navigation is now available at Humber River Hospital for orthopaedic surgeons. It’s Intellijoint Surgical’s first sale of its flagship product, Intellijoint HIP, to a public hospital in Canada.

Intellijoint Surgical was founded in 2010 and is based in Kitchener, where it develops and commercializes surgical planning and navigation solutions for total hip and knee replacement surgeries.

Humber River Hospital performs over 600 total hip replacements every year and will begin using Intellijoint HIP immediately. Intellijoint HIP will be available to all orthopaedic surgeons performing total hip arthroplasty at Humber, enabling the public medical healthcare landscape in Canada with this kind of technology for the first time.

“Intellijoint HIP will alleviate the need for additional fluoroscopy and diagnostic imaging arms in an already backlogged system due to Directive 2, which halted all non-essential surgeries due to COVID-19. This will allow for efficiencies at Humber River as we begin scheduling hip surgeries once again,” said Jhanvi Solanki (pictured), program director of surgical services at Humber River Hospital.

Dr. Sebastian Rodriguez-Elizalde, a fellowship trained orthopaedic surgeon at Humber River Hospital remarked, “The Intellijoint system allows for accurate cup placement and leg length corrections to the degree and millimetre. This open platform technology is simple to use, takes minutes to set up and allows for surgeons to stop using intra-operative X-rays.”

Offering Canadian medical technologies for Canadians is a major achievement for the public healthcare sector given the challenges with procurement. This success story is thanks to the Humber River Hospital Foundation and its generous donors. Intellijoint HIP has been licensed by Health Canada since 2015 and has already been used in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan with tremendous success.

More surgeons are adopting technology in their operating rooms for the benefit of their patients. Intellijoint HIP (IJH) is a novel navigation device that integrates with surgeons’ existing workflows and implant choices with affordable fee-per-use or capital purchase models.

IJH provides real-time intraoperative measurements for accurate implant alignment, as well as leg length and offset restoration for a total hip replacement. IJH does not add any surgery time and has proven results with over 20,000 procedures performed around the world.

Patients at Humber River Hospital undergoing total hip arthroplasty can now access this innovative modern technology that enables efficiency and improved outcomes.

“We are very excited about this first sale to a public hospital in Canada,” said Armen Bakirtzian, co-founder and CEO of Intellijoint Surgical. “This seven-year journey is a testament to our team’s persistence and dedication to deliver the benefits of our technologies to Canadians. We are thankful to Humber River Hospital and the Humber River Hospital Foundation for their commitment to exceptional patient care.”

Intellijoint Surgical is the proud anchor resident of the Medical Innovation Xchange (MIX), a medical technology hub dedicated to supporting scaling Canadian MedTech companies.

“This milestone is celebrated by MIX, partnering MIX companies and the entire MedTech ecosystem. It is MIX’s hope that this is just the first of many adoptions in the Ontario health system by MIX companies” said Elliot Fung, Executive Director with MIX.

About Intellijoint Surgical
Intellijoint Surgical develops and commercializes surgical planning & navigation solutions for total hip and knee joint replacements, as well as digital patient engagement for all orthopaedic specialties. It is committed to improving patients’ lives by providing every surgeon with effective, easy-to-use technology to manage the entire episode of care. Intellijoint’s technology is used by top orthopaedic institutions and surgeons globally. For more information on Intellijoint Surgical visit www.intellijointsurgical.com.