Newswise — Baltimore, MD - The Daily Record has named John Herzenberg, M.D., director of the International Center for Limb Lengthening (ICLL) at the LifeBridge Health Rubin Institute of Advanced Orthopedics, and Shawn Standard, M.D., head of Pediatric Orthopedics at the ICLL, as 2014 Innovators of the Year.
Standard and Herzenberg were honored for their part in developing PRECICE 2, the second generation of the PRECICE™ Limb Lengthening System. This is a groundbreaking internal approach to limb lengthening that dramatically reduces pain and the risk of infection while improving the quality of life for patients who undergo the life-changing procedure.
Additionally, these physicians were also the first to perform surgery with the PRECICE 2 in North America.
About 100,000 people in the United States, including those who experience a trauma, have disorders or have achondroplasia, which is a form of dwarfism, are unable to perform tasks that most of us take for granted, such as standing or walking without pain, reaching a sink, or being able to sit with our feet touching the floor.
In contrast to older limb lengthening technology, which requires physicians to break the leg or arm bones and use a cumbersome external apparatus involving “turning of the screws,” the PRECICE System consists of a telescopic titanium rod that is surgically implanted into the femur in the thigh or the tibia in the shin.
This rod contains a tiny magnetic motor and gearbox that are driven by a magnetic field generator. When the generator is held on the skin of the leg several times a day for just a few minutes, the bone and skin are slowly pulled apart, at a rate of approximately 1mm per day. That allows new bone and skin to generate at an even, predictable rate. It is not painful.
While the original PRECICE was revolutionary, Herzenberg and Standard realized that younger patients would benefit if the telescopic titanium rod were smaller. So they went
back to their partners, Ellipse Technologies and Stuart Green, M.D., and were not only able to make the rod smaller but stronger as well.
The Daily Record began the Innovator of the Year awards in 2002 as a way to recognize Marylanders and Maryland-based companies for their innovative spirit – for creating new products, new programs, new services or new processes that have helped their companies, industries or communities.
The nominations were judged on four basic criteria: originality, impact, challenge and value.
The 2014 Innovator of the Year awards will be presented October 15 to each of the 28 winners at a dinner at the American Visionary Art Museum.
LifeBridge Health is one of the largest, most comprehensive health care providers in Maryland. LifeBridge Health includes Sinai Hospital, Northwest Hospital, Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center and Hospital, and other affiliates and subsidiaries.
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