Monmouth Medical Center (MMC), an RWJBarnabas Health facility, is the first hospital in the region to offer the world’s only smart knee technology for total knee replacement. The technology is the first implantable device that allows for remote patient monitoring and collects post-surgery data on a patient’s progress.

The smart knee uses implantable sensor technology that allows clinicians to collect data on patient progress after surgery. Joint replacement specialists Bert Parcells, MD, Arthur Mark, FAAOS, and David B. Dickerson from MMC as well as Karl Blum, MD from Community Medical Center (CMC) use this cutting-edge technology to remotely measure steps taken, monitor average walking speed, measure range of motion and other indicators of knee function after surgery to help ensure the best patient post-operative outcomes.

“We know that obstacles and setbacks can come with knee replacement surgery, but with the smart knee we use kinematic data to comfortably diagnose what is causing the setback and provide solutions, including proper medications and physical therapy plans to solve the problem,” said Dr. Parcells, who performed MMC’s first smart knee replacement surgery. “We are excited to be one of the few hospitals in the state to offer this technology. The smart knee is only one of the latest technologies in RWJBarnabas Health’s range of advanced orthopedic treatment options.”

This technology features implantable sensor technology that records and wirelessly transmits a wide range of gait data from the knee implant to a patient’s personal base station at home for the entire year following the replacement. The data is then securely delivered to a HIPAA- compliant cloud-based platform where both the orthopedic surgeon and the patient can easily check it. With a battery life of at least 10 years, data can be accessed for years after the surgery. Doctors are hopeful that the advances made with this smart knee technology will continue to grow and in time, help to improve pre-and-post-operative mobility metrics.