ECA Medical Instruments Develops Industry First Single-Procedure Ratchet To Reduce Time, Cut Cost Of Orthopaedic Implant Surgeries

Disposable ratchet to provide surgeons in hospital and outpatient settings with a versatile instrument in sterile ready package that will shorten spine and ortho implant surgeries

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ECA Medical Instruments®, the leading designer and manufacturer of single-procedure torque-limiting and fixed-driver surgical instruments and sterile-packed procedural kits for the medical industry and surgeons worldwide, has developed the industry’s first single-procedure surgical ratchet for use by surgeons to secure orthopaedic and spine implants.

“The Secure-Fast ratchet complements our family of disposable instruments and procedural kits and underscores the broader adoption of disposable instruments and kits across hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs)”

The proprietary Model 300 Secure-Fast™ ratcheting system, is designed to reduce surgical costs by more than $1,000 per surgery and to provide a pristine ratcheting capability for securing screws, fasteners and connectors used in demanding procedures including spine, trauma and extremity implants. The ECA® ratchet is bi-directional and fully cannulated making it ideal for use in minimally invasive surgeries where speed, safety and implant fixation are critical.

“The Secure-Fast™ single-procedure ratchet is a novel first of its kind instrument that will become every surgeon’s instrument of choice for hospital and outpatient ortho and spine implants,” said John Nino, president and CEO of ECA Medical Instruments. “The ease of use, versatility and ability to speed surgeries across the full range of implants will make this ratchet a popular and value packed alternative to expensive re-usable ratchets that require cleaning, re-processing and re-sterilization.”

Featuring a surgeon proven and preferred axial handle the ECA Secure-Fast™ ratchet comes configured with either an industry standard AO or ¼-inch square hub connector that can mate with legacy stainless steel drivers and shafts used across all types of surgeries. The instrument is bi-directional making it ideal for fixation, implant adjustments and extractions.

Unlike existing reusable ratchets, which are a hassle and expensive to inventory, clean, repair and re-process, the Secure-Fast™ ratchet is new for every procedure eliminating performance concerns and can be sterile-packed ready for surgery, reducing the risk of surgical site infection.

“We’re helping implant designers and surgeons transform healthcare economics by providing robust disposable instruments and kits as alternatives to traditional and costly reusable tools,” said James Schultz, ECA’s Executive Vice President. “The Secure-Fast ratchet complements our family of disposable instruments and procedural kits and underscores the broader adoption of disposable instruments and kits across hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs),” he said.

“Surgeons and healthcare professionals including payers are focused on gaining the best possible outpatient outcomes at the best price point or value,” said Schultz. “Our single-use instruments and kits and our new Secure-Fast™ ratchet are cost effective productivity tools for orthopaedic and neurosurgeons and improve patient safety as every instrument is new out of the box, sterile and ready for surgery.”

The new Model 300 series Secure-Fast™ ratchet, which has worldwide patents pending, will be available for sampling in the coming weeks. OEM implant firms should contact their ECA strategic account director for details.

There are over nine million fracture repair and spine procedures globally each year that require a surgical implant and over 80% can benefit from use of a versatile, single-use (disposable) ratcheting instrument. Over $4 billion in healthcare industry savings could be achieved annually with widespread adoption of disposable surgical fixation instruments and kits.

ECA develops semi-custom and fully custom instruments and procedural kits for the full range of orthopaedic and spine implants. ECA’s products are developed for key industry OEM implant makers and come both sterile-ready and sterile-packed making them easy to inventory and ready to use.

About ECA Medical Instruments

ECA Medical Instruments, an American Capital company (NASDAQ:ACAS), was founded in 1979 and located in Thousand Oaks, CA. ECA is the industry leader in single-procedure torque-limiting instruments and surgical fixation kits. The company has manufactured and delivered over 30 million precision torque instruments to the world’s leading manufacturers of cardiac rhythm management, neuromodulation, cardiovascular and orthopaedic and spine implants resulting in over 500 million precision surgical actuations. Every 20 seconds of every day an ECA torque instrument is used to secure a medical implant—one patient at a time. ECA is an ISO 13485, CE Mark certified and FDA registered company and was named Business of the Year 2012 by the Pacific Coast Business Times. www.ecamedical.com

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