On November 6th, 2009, Ian Lo, M.D. was featured in an ORLive webcast of an arthroscopic rotator cuff repair procedure using ArthroCare Sports Medicine’s new SpeedScrew Device, a next generation, fully threaded knotless implant designed to enable superior arthroscopic rotator cuff repairs.

“If you rely on bone fixation of the anchor to physically lock the suture,” said Dr. Lo, “then during the healing process when bone necrosis can occur, either the anchor or the sutures can come loose. This new implant does not rely on bone quality for suture lock because it locks the suture within the implant and not against the bone. Further, the knotless nature of the technology provides a very low profile repair.”

“But the major advantage of this system,” added Dr. Lo, “is that it has independent tensioning of the sutures, independent fixation of the anchor and independent fixation of the sutures into the anchor.”

Dr. Lo is an AHFMR Clinical Investigator and assistant professor for the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary. He is a Junior McCaig Professor in the McCaig Centre for Joint Injury and Arthritis Research and is also a member of the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research multidisciplinary team working to identify the specific factors that cause rotator cuff tears.

Dr. Lo’s procedure was webcast live from the Health Resources Center in Calgary.