Collaborative Breakthrough

A slip and fall can be bad news, especially for people over age 65, who account for more than 90 percent of the hip fractures in this country. Standard treatment requires invasive surgery that is painful, expensive and involves lengthy rehabilitation. And the results are far from perfect. Although the surgery is effective in repairing broken bones, the period of inactivity that follows the fracture can lead to other complications. Twenty-four percent of those over 50 die within one year of surgery, nearly forty percent of patients require long-term care and half of them never walk unassisted again.

A project funded by the 21st Century Research and Technology Fund aims to dramatically improve those outcomes. Orthopaedic implant research designed to create “transfor-mational technology” is being conducted at University of Notre Dame by Dr. Steven R. Schmid and Dr. James Mason, associate professors of aerospace and mechanical engineering, together with colleagues from Notre Dame’s Biomechanics and Biomaterials in Orthopaedics Group, as well as from I. U. Medical School and Purdue University. Also playing a central role, with a team led by Tony Lozier, is Zimmer, Inc., a world leader in orthopaedic implants and fracture management products. This
interdisciplinary group has developed a totally new approach to treating hip fractures and, potentially, other conditions calling for orthopaedic implants.

Their revolutionary research centers on designing devices that promote what Zimmer calls “Minimally Invasive Solutions” to treating orthopaedic conditions. The hip fracture implant device and surgical procedure developed as the result of collaboration between Zimmer and Notre Dame requires only two two-inch incisions and avoids cutting through muscle, nerves and blood vessels. Rather than facing weeks or months of intense rehabilitation—or the prospect of never walking unassisted again—the goal of the design team is to enable most patients to walk out of the hospital only days after this minimally invasive surgery.

The humanitarian implications of the new procedure are vast. There are close to 350,000 hip fractures in the United States each year, a number projected to rise to 650,000—nearly 1,800 a day—by 2050. The research also has the potential to deliver significant benefits to Indiana and the state economy—benefits that Dr. Schmid attributes to the 21st Century Fund grant, which was a catalyst for collaboration between Notre Dame and Zimmer. Both partners had participated in other university-industry ventures, but almost always with out-of-state partners, so this project sets a new standard for future cooperation, between these institutions and with other Hoosier companies and universities.

The innovative hip fracture implant—not to mention related devices that may follow will give Zimmer a head start in an estimated $1 billion worldwide market and has the potential to generate tax revenues as the product is adopted by the orthopaedic community. Equally important is student involvement, both graduate and undergraduate, in the research. As a result of the project, Zimmer has already hired several Notre Dame graduates, and Zimmer employees are furthering their educations at Notre Dame-a model for the kind of long-term partnership needed to keep our sharpest minds here in Indiana.