Case Study: Exactech, Inc. achieves rapid, population-driven orthopaedic device development with Materialise's ADAM services and 3-matic automation

Orthopedic Device Manufacturers Turn to Workflow Automation to Accelerate Knee Development

Exactech, Inc. needed to determine the optimal trochlear groove design philosophy for total knee implants by comparing native femur anatomy to common implant geometries, but required an efficient, scalable way to analyze a large healthy population. They engaged Materialise using Anatomical Data Mining (ADAM) services and Python scripting in 3-matic to access and process segmented CT-based femur models for this study.

Materialise supplied a database of 94 segmented CT femurs and automated the plane-creation and intersection-curve measurements with Python in 3-matic, cutting manual processing from over an hour per bone to under two minutes and enabling population-scale analysis. The study found the trochlear groove orientation averaged neutral but varied from -10.8° to 8.0°; the Truliant Knee System (neutral with proximal widening) best matched that population distribution while lateralized designs tended to deviate. Materialise’s workflow delivered a cost-effective, lower-error, population-driven approach that reduced manpower and supported more representative implant design decisions.

Exactech, Inc.