More than 600,000 individuals fracture their wrists each year, with many requiring implantation procedures to heal the small bones. DePuy Synthes has launched its Distal Radius Sterile Kit, a single-use kit full of pre-sterilized instruments needed to perform a wrist fracture procedure, to help providers cut costs.

"The Distal Radius Sterile Kit is an example of how we are responding to customer needs by providing value beyond the implant," said I.V. Hall, global franchise leader of DePuy Synthes Trauma. "By combining our market-leading plate and screw solution with single-use instrumentation, we are supporting our customers ranging from academic medical centers to community hospitals in providing high-quality care in an efficient, cost-effective way."

Considering the volume of wrist fractures surgeries, physicians are constantly ordering instruments and implants needed to achieve high-quality outcomes. With the kit, providers no longer need to constantly order new instruments and sterilize them. By including a Variable Angle LCP Two-Column Volar Distal Radius Plate, an array of screws and the required fixation instrumentation, providers are provided with the tools to treat 80 percent of distal radius fractures.

"It's important in trauma cases for the instrumentation to be arranged in a way that the surgeon can focus on the patient without distraction from the back table," said Marc Richard, MD, an associate professor at the Duke University Medical Center. "In my experience with these sterile kits, they have helped assure availability of the distal radius plates during unscheduled trauma cases. Additionally, I have found that the simplified set and instrumentation can help the scrub team preserve operating room efficiency."